Learning to Fly
by InsanityC
Summary: How to Train Your Dragon with a twist. I've made Hiccup a girl. Helen is the outcast of her tribe. Then she takes down a Night Fury, but will she be able to finish it off? Some foul language. Review Please! Lots of pairings in this one. Rated T just in case. I pretty much just made this how I wanted the movie to end, but with a girl instead.
1. Chapter 1 Cleaning up Messes

**A/N: I redid the first chapters to make them flow better. Woo!**

TEXT KEY:

Normal  
YELLING/EMPHASIS  
_Emphasis  
'Humans are thinking' *Dragons are thinking*  
_"Humans are speaking"  
**"Gobber is speaking"  
****_*Dragons are speaking*  
_**_Writing in a journal, book, or on paper  
_Line Break  
**Possible Other Line Break**

-

Helen woke up to a lot of noise coming from outside. This was usual, due to living in Berk, where the town was populated by Vikings, but this noise wasn't any noise. It was THE noise. She could hear dragons roaring and Vikings roaring back. She could hear buildings being burned and she could smell the smoke; wait, _smoke?_  
_'CRAP'_ she thought, and quickly ran out of her burning room_. 'Great, just great, first I'm late to get to the Forges, and second, my room is on fire!'._ She half ran/half fell down the giant stairs in her rush to get away from the flames. Helen was approximately four foot five, which was small, seeing as how she was a Viking and she was sixteen. She wore black pants under an oversized black tunic, which in turn, was under an oversized grey fur vest, a dark brown belt, and had grey fur boots. There was a wooden handled knife in a sheath on her belt, which was cleverly hidden by her vest. Her hair was black and, unlike the other Viking women's, short. Also unlike the other Viking women and teenage girls, Helen didn't have that girlish figure. She hadn't quite developed yet, most likely because she was always running away from Dragons. Her eyes were bright green and, amazingly, unafraid. Helen pulled open the giant wooden door that was more than four times her size, only to close it quickly when a Monstrous Nightmare breathed fire at her. After she was brave enough to open it again, the small Viking ran outside and tried to dodge past the Forges but, as usual, didn't quite make it past. Gobber the Belch caught her by the back of her shirt and pulled her through the window into the Forges.

"Oh, Gobber, hey, I didn't see you standing there…" Helen said to cover up for the fact that she had, once again, tried to get into the battle with the others.

**"Yeah, right, you were tryin' to get out there again. You aren't ready for Dragon Fighting." **The large man accused in response. He was more than three times the size of Helen, which was still short by Viking standards, with a long blonde mustache that was tied into two braids. His metal helmet covered the small patch of hair that he had left, and came down just above his bushy blonde unibrow. Both Gobber's left hand and right leg were replaced by prosthetic limbs, as they had been bitten off by a Dragon in the Viking's younger years.

"Yes I am! I can fight! I need to get out there, I can just go, and then two minutes later, I will have killed a Dragon, my life will get infinitely better." Helen complained, this was the usual argument that they had whenever there was a Dragon raid.

**"You can't even lift a sword! How do you expect to kill a Dragon? A Terror could take you down without even breaking sweat!"** Gobber felt very pleased with himself for coming up with that last comment, but Helen quickly countered it.

"First off, Dragons don't sweat; they have scales, not pores. Second, you didn't learn how to kill dragons by hanging out in the Forges during a raid; you got out there and fought. Third, there are other weapons than a sword, I can use those. And finally, you aren't giving me a chance! I could probably take down one of the smaller dragons, not a Terror, because that's lame, but maybe a small Nadder, or a miniature Zippleback." See, Helen wasn't built for lifting, or fighting, she was built for running and dodging, and thinking. She was very good at thinking, which got her made fun of a lot. The other teens made fun of her for the fact that she used more than two percent of her brain. She would come up with ideas, new traps, modified versions of Viking weapons, in hopes that she could fit in better. It didn't work.

**"You aren't ready, besides, I need your help here. And even if I din't, You'd be more trouble than help. If you want to be a Viking, you have to stop being all of… THIS"** Gobber said, gesturing to ALL of Helen.

"You just gestured to ALL of me!"

**"Exactly!"**

"Ahh... I see where you're going with this, you sir, are playing a dangerous game, keeping all this raw Viking-ness away from a fight. There will be consequences!"

"I'll take my chances. Sword, sharpen, now." Gobber ordered, handing Helen a sword that was nearly as big as she was. Helen lifted the sword easily and dropped it on a rotating stone used for sharpening metal objects, such as swords. All of a sudden there was a loud screeching sound and everyone who was conscious ducked down and yelled, "NIGHT FURY!" Gobber looked up just as one of the watch towers exploded.

"Man the fort Helen, they need me out there." He then looked at Helen, slightly worried, "Stay. Put. There… You know what I mean." He looked back once before leaving, running into the fight and screaming at the top of his lungs.  
As soon as he was out of sight Helen grabbed her net thrower, that she had invented herself, and ran out of the Forges. She ran until she got to the last remaining watchtower, and quickly set up the mechanism. Waiting, she mumbled to herself, "Come on, gimme something to shoot at, gimme something to shoot at…" Then she saw it, the silhouette of a Night Fury, the most feared Dragon of all. This Dragon was never seen, it never stole any food, and it never missed. The telltale screech sounded before the watchtower exploded, and Helen followed the shadow of the Dragon briefly before firing her machine. The weighted net flew through the air and hit the Night Fury, taking it down.

"YES! Did _anyone_ see that?" Helen asked, overly excited that she had actually hit a _Night Fury_ of all things. Then she heard a growl from behind her *******_I did*_** Turning, Helen saw a Monstrous Nightmare, possibly the same one that had tried to barbeque her earlier.

"Besides you." She said with dread in her voice. Then she weighed her options, she could stand there and get burned, or torn apart, or she could run and hope someone from the village would help. She chose the latter. Screaming, she ran into the village and hid behind a pole, hoping that the Dragon wouldn't know where she was.  
*******_I can smell you human*_**the dragon growled; then proceeded to set the pole on fire. Helen looked around the side of the pole to see where the Dragon was, slightly concerned that it could smell her. The dragon however, went around on the other side, so as to stay hidden. Just as the Monstrous Nightmare was about to attack, Stoic the Vast jumped out of nowhere and punched the Nightmare in the face.

*******_Ow! That hurt you jerk!*_**the Dragon tried to cover Stoic in molten fire, but found that he was all out of said molten flame.

"You're all out." Stoic told the Dragon, stating the obvious, and clenched his hands into fists, ready to attack. Just as he was going to beat the living crap out of the Nightmare, he got distracted by a small something. A Terrible Terror had just bitten him in the rear.

*******_Leave my friend alone, asshole!*_**the Terror squeaked. While Stoic was distracted the Monstrous Nightmare escaped.

*******_Thank you for your assistance, I will repay the debt!*_** The larger dragon called back to his friend and, with that parting remark, was gone. Stoic ripped the Terrible Terror off his posterior and shoved it in a bag, then tossed the bag to one of the Vikings nearby. The Large Viking turned to face Helen just as the pole she was standing behind collapsed, along with the giant bowl of fire on top of it, which then started rolling down the street lighting any wood it came into contact with on fire.

"Hey… dad." Helen said, feeling a bit ashamed. Her dad gave her _The Look_ and she immediately tried to make things better.

"Okay, but I hit a Night Fury."

"Ugh, Helen, we've gone over this before…" Stoic began, but Helen interrupted him.

"I know dad, I know. But this time I really hit it, I saw it go down! Judging by its trajectory and the amount of squirming it was doing, it probably crashed just off Raven Point! Let's get a search party out there and we can…"

"NO! You think this is some sort of game? The Ice is about to set in and I have an entire village to feed! We don't have the time OR resources for you to be running around and making things worse! Get back to the house!" Looking to Gobber he ordered, "Make sure she gets there, I have her mess to clean up." Stoic The Vast then left to find the giant dish that was probably still on fire.


	2. Chapter 2 Not Quite a Viking

After Gobber had dropped her off at the house, Helen grabbed her pencil and her notebook, then ran outside via the back door. The woods were located directly behind her house, so Helen was able to sneak away unnoticed. As she walked through the woods, the small girl drew an aerial view of Berk, where the watch tower was, and the general direction of where the Dragon might have gone. Marking on rocks with her pencil, she walked further into the woods. After about three hours of searching, Helen became very lethargic; she was having no success at all! _'This is lame'_ she thought to herself.

"Oh, the gods hate me," She spoke out loud. '_Might as well. No one else is HERE to talk to! Besides, if they WERE here, they wouldn't want to talk to me anyways…'_

"Some people lose their knife, or their mug, or even their socks, but me, I've managed to lose an _entire Dragon!_" Helen hit a tree branch to emphasize her anger, but it came back and hit her in the face.

"What the…?" She looked up and saw that the entire tree had been broken in half, and there was a path leading after it. Pushing the branch back once again, but not quite as forcefully this time, the Viking girl followed the path down. After getting to the bottom, Helen looked over a large mound of dirt and saw a large black thing lying there in a small clearing, all tangled up in a leather, weighted net. Freaking out and fairly sure that the thing was going to kill her, she ducked down. When nothing happened, Helen looked over the mound again. The Dragon was sleeping! _'What luck! Now I have my chance, I'm going to prove that I can be a Viking!_' The girl hurried over the mound and snuck quietly to the motionless Night Fury.

"Oh, I did it! I can't believe I actually did it! Oh, this fixes everything! I, Helen, have brought down this mighty beast!" As she made the last comment she placed her boot on the Dragon's front leg, only to have the `mighty beast` nudge her off, which thoroughly freaked her out. She looked over to where the Dragon's head was, and its eyes were open, glaring hatefully up at her. Helen was surprised, and when their eyes met, she could tell the Dragon was too. But she quickly looked away from those eyes that, though they were hypnotic, may cause her to feel some amount of sympathy towards the creature.

"I'm gonna kill you Dragon." The Girl told the creature sternly. "I'm going to cut your heart out, and take it to my father… You know why? Because I'm a Viking. I'M A VIKING!" She yelled at the Night Fury. It just stared at her, and she wondered if it could understand her, or if she just sounded like she was talking nonsense_. 'Probably the later'_ she thought. The Night Fury closed its eyes and leaned it's head back, as if it were accepting it's death. Helen looked at where her knife was supposed to stab, raised her arms over her head, aimed, and then, placed her hands on her head. She looked at the injured Dragon, ready to die, most likely in agonizing pain, and remembered how scared it had looked before it accepted its fate.

"I did this…" Helen turned to leave, but stopped. '_Leaving it here would be just as cruel, if not worse than if I had killed it myself… It has no way to protect itself if a wild animal should attack it… And even if nothis attacks, it will surely starve to death…'_

Night Fury's POV: (Beginning Earlier)

The net was coming for him, but he couldn't move fast enough. _*Whoever threw this thing had good aim*_He thought, then it hit him. Literally, the net hit him and he went down. Blackness. He blacked out when he hit the first tree. He wasn't weak or anything; it was just a really big tree. When he woke up he was in a small clearing, tangled in a leather net that was weighted with small rocks. He heard a voice that sounded human, and female, a female human adolescent. _*Great, I'm going to die.*_ The voice was saying something, they sounded far away, maybe they wouldn't come near, the Dragon hoped.

"Some people lose their knife, or their mug, or even their socks, but me, I've managed to lose an _entire Dragon!"_ the female was saying. Then, shortly afterwards… "Ow! What the…?" After a while he heard a gasp and knew that whoever this was had found him. He heard her come up closer to him. _*What the hell is she doing? Doesn't she know I'm a Night Fury? The most feared Dragon known to man?*_

"Oh, I did it! I can't believe I actually did it!" She started, sounding very excited. _*Yes, you have done it, congrats. Maybe if I pretend to be asleep, she will go away.* _

"Oh, this fixes everything!" She continued. _*Fixes what?*_he wondered. Vikings were generally fairly successful with things.****

"I, Helen, have brought down this mighty beast!" As she made the last comment she placed her boot on his front leg. _*Okay 'Helen' that's it, I'm flattered by the whole mighty beast thing, but GET OFF!* _he shifted his leg, pushing her off, surprised at how he was able to push her off so much easier than he had expected. Opening his eyes to see why she had fallen off so easily, the Dragon got the shock of his life. This wasn't a Viking, this was a dwarf. A skinny dwarf, but a dwarf nonetheless. She looked like she had no muscle whatsoever; and she didn't have any fat either. She was the exact opposite of the typical Viking. Short, skinny, and a bit frightened.  
He was going to be killed by not only a child, but a wimpy one at that. Was there anything more humiliating? He was shocked even further when he saw her eyes. They were bright green, like his. He could tell that she was shocked too. Then she looked away from him, which he was thankful for because he couldn't seem to look away from her hypnotizing gaze. Then she said it. Those words that sealed the deal.

"I'm gonna kill you Dragon. I'm going to cut your heart out, and take it to my father, you know why? Because I'm a Viking. I'M A VIKING!" She yelled at him. *_Who are you trying to convince? Me or you? Because I'm gonna need a lot more convincing.*_ as if reading his mind, she pulled out a knife and held it above his heart. *_Okay, I'm convinced.*_ He looked at her once more, and realized that for the first time in his life, he was scared. He tilted his head back and closed his eyes, then moaned *******_Just make it fast!*_** he waited for the fatal blow, and heard the human speak once more.

"I did this…" *_Yes, yes you did, again, congrats, wait, she sounds almost…regretting, this isn't a Viking… Is it?*_he heard her turn around, as if she were going to LEAVE. The human seemed to stop and come back, and the Dragon heard something that could only mean one thing. This human was insane.

_Scrape, scrape, scrape, SNAP!_

She was cutting his binds! Didn't she know that he could kill her with a single swipe?

_Scrape, scrape, scrape, SNAP!_

One more bind, then he would be free. He tensed up, waiting for just the right moment…

_Scrape, scrape, scrape, SNAP!_

He leapt up and pounced on the girl, pinning her up against a rock. He glared into her eyes, which were wide with fear. The same fear that he felt not two minutes ago. He couldn't kill this girl. She would not be his first kill. No, not an unarmed child, it was against his ethics.

*******_LEAVE US ALONE!*_** He yelled at her, getting close enough to her face to take in her scent. He then half  
flew, half fell away.

After having her eardrums almost explode, Helen got up, and then fainted due to shock.


	3. Chapter 3 The Gods hate me

Helen woke up with a face full of dirt and shakily got to her feet, using the boulder beside her as a crutch. Looking around, she saw that the Dragon was nowhere in sight, which could be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on how she chose to look at it. After regaining her senses, Helen gathered her sketchbook and knife, along with what was left of her net, and walked around for a while. She knew that her dad would be fairly pissed about her messing up the raid, so the young girl had no desire to return home. But after a while she needed an objective, because walking around pointlessly was getting pretty boring really fast. Changing her course, Helen walked to a nearby beach, where she watched birds swoop down to the raging water and snatch up fish. Crabs scuttled along the rocks that sat on the edge of the shore and pinched at her palms when she tried to pick them up. Sand mounds turned into sand castles, which then turned into cities and worlds created by her careful hands and wild imagination. Crabs were sent out on wild voyages across the tide pools on their twig-and-leaf ships, encountering terrible dangers such as eels and fish; making it to the other side only to meet a tragic end at the beak of a powerful seagull.  
On the beach, Helen's imagination soared as high as the birds above, and dead jellyfish became deadly additions to her arrows, abandoned starfish combined with the spines of a decomposing urchin became a lethal throwing star, and a seagull's feather became a perfect balance for her modified arrows. Unfortunately, however, the suns began to set and the life that inhabited the beach began to disperse, looking now for shelter rather than food. As the pink of the suns illuminated the surface of the water, Helen cast a final glance at her sand worlds and broken twig ships before disappearing into the woods and heading back to the village.  
The world was dark, and not a single Viking wandered the streets when Helen arrived. Her boots tapped along the dirt road, the sound of the leather soles hitting the worn dirt echoing in the silence. It began to rain heavily, and soon the lone walker's boots and legs were splashed with mud. Pulling open the large doors, Helen trudged into her house, looking up at the sound of stone scraping against metal. Her dad was sharpening his axe, and she tried to sneak past him to get upstairs and into the safety of her room. She didn't need this, not now, not ever, but as she had said before while looking for the Dragon, the Gods hated her.  
Stoic the Vast turned at the sound of the door shutting and Helen's soggy boots on the wooden stairs.

"Helen, I, uh, need to talk to you about something." He sounded nervous, this wasn't typical Stoic, he normally charged into things without hesitation. What was this?

"Yeah, dad, I kinda need to talk to you too." She said, also nervous and choosing her words carefully; she didn't want this 'discussion' to turn into the one last night. They both took a deep breath, and then spoke simultaneously.

"I've decided to let you fight Dragons."

"I've decided that I don't want to fight Dragons."

"Oh, sorry." Stoic mumbled, making Helen nervous at his strange behavior. _First he acts shy, and now he apologizes. What is up?_

"N-no… you first." Helen said quickly, not wanting to make her father upset. She knew what happened when her father got mad.

"Okay, I have decided to let you train to fight Dragons." He said. He knew that this contradicted everything that he had told her since she was born. He would never hear the end of this…

"Oh, I should have gone first. Look, dad, I don't want to fight Dragons."

"Yes you do."

"No I don't." Stoic stepped forward, causing Helen to back up in fear.

"What do you mean, you 'don't want to fight Dragons'? You have asked me since you were half way up to my knee! Of course you want to!" He was getting angry now, and Helen knew it, if he got any angrier, well, there would be pain. Lots of it. The best thing for Helen to do was to give in.

"You're right," She heard herself say, "I guess I'm just tired, I don't know what I'm saying, I would love to begin Dragon Training_." 'WHAT? Did I just say that? Nononono, this can't be happening, I can't fight Dragons, the Gronkle is supposed to be the smallest Dragon of them all, besides the Terror, and it's three times the size of me!'_ Helen might have looked calm on the outside, but she was screaming on the inside.

"Good, you start training tomorrow morning; I'm off to Helheim's Gate. I'll be back," He started to leave, then added, "Maybe."

"And I'll be here, probably." She told him, this was their normal way of dismissing each other. Helen never knew if her father would return from wherever her went off to, even if it was just the market, and he never knew if she'd still be there when he got back, or if she would have run off or have been eaten by something.  
Stoic left and Helen now had the house to herself for the next four months. She started doing what she did second best, cleaning. The thing she did best was screwing stuff up, and, according to everyone in the village, she did that well. Hiding was her third best quality. That was as far as her qualities went, as she wasn't much good for anything else. Except tending wounds, she was awesome at that. Helen had had many wounds, both from the battlefield, and from home. When her father got angry, he tended to take it out on either the nearest Dragon, or her. To Helen it seemed that whenever he was in his most terrible mood, the Dragons stayed away.  
With the house to herself for four months she would have a lot of free time. Maybe she could give it a fresh coat of paint; it sure needed it, after all her bedroom had been on fire that morning.

_'My bedroom!'_

She ran up the stairs as fast as she could, down the hallway to her bedroom door, and stopped. Did she really want to look? She knew she had to eventually, might as well get it over with. Helen opened her door and the smell was what hit her first. It smelled like a Dragon had set her room on fire. Then she saw what had happened. Her room was gone. The walls were black; the glass on her window shattered… pictures had withered in their frames. Everything that wasn't flame retardant was destroyed. Her clothes were covered in soot, which normally wouldn't have mattered, because they were mostly black anyway, but the small of sulfur was everywhere. Even if it looked like it was fine, the smell would be there forever. Everything she owned, save for what was on her body, in the Forges, or downstairs… all gone…  
She currently had on her clothes, and her shoes, her knife, her journal, and her pencil. Downstairs she had an extra knife, pair of pants, and vest. At the Forges she had lots of journals, pencils, and an extra set of clothes for when she stayed overnight. Helen wasn't sad however, like most people would have been, she simply went downstairs, grabbed a large basket, went back to her room, and started shoving everything she owned into the container. Books, clothes, and blueprints for new inventions were all destroyed and warped beyond recognition, but Helen had a fairly decent memory and clothes could be replaced, so it wasn't a complete waste.  
It took two baskets, but soon her room was empty, save for the bed frame and mattress. The bed frame could stay, but she would donate the mattress to fuel the giant torch. After checking the rest of the house to make sure that nothing else needed to be taken care of, Helen grabbed a bucket of water and some lye and began scrubbing the soot from her walls, floor, and ceiling. Once she could see the original wood and the first rays of sunlight through her window, Helen got ready for her training that morning.


	4. Chapter 4 First day of Training

Helen used the river that ran behind her house as a bath of sorts. It was much more sanitary than the ocean, and Helen had even made a stone tub of sorts that she could fill with water so that the fish weren't hurt by her soaps. She grabbed a bucket and filled the tub with the icy water before pulling off her clothes and tossing them into another bucket full of soapy water to soak. Helen dunked her head under the water and resurfaced, grabbing a bottle of her shampoo. She had bought it, along with her body wash, from some traveling merchants that sailed to Berk once a year, bearing items for purchase such as soap, silk, weapons, and women's beauty products. After washing her body, Helen dragged the tub to the edge of the woods, wrapped tightly in her soggy vest, and dumped the dirty water out before dragging the stone tub back to its original place next to the pond. She grabbed the rest of her clothes and another bucket of soap-free water and ran inside, dumping the water into a large pot that hung over the fire place. The small Viking sat, naked and alone in her house before the fire that she had started, and waited for the water to boil. Once it did, Helen took the soggy clothes out of the water and slid the metal fence in front of the fireplace, hanging her clothes to dry on the metal before getting up to find something to eat. Eventually, the girl found a piece of bread to munch on while she waited.  
After what seemed like forever, the clothes were dry enough for Helen to get dressed and leave for class. She would be super early, but that was alright because she liked being alone. When she was alone, no one could interrupt her thoughts and she was free to be herself.  
Helen walked out the front door and headed towards the Training Ring, where the first day of Viking Training would be held. It was a short walk to the Training Ring from her house, but Helen liked to look around at how things were going, and just observe the average Viking going about their day. She called it 'Research'. What was she researching? How to be a Viking. Helen never fit in, and that was all she wanted. She wanted to be a Viking, she didn't have to be fabulous or anything, she just had to be able to do something. She could run fast, she could make something wonderful out of random scraps lying around the Forges, and she could throw her knife. Helen's aim was amazing, but only when she was using a knife. If she tried to even LIFT an axe of hammer, or even a spear, disaster would soon follow. Helen just couldn't use a weapon so off-balance.  
After about 15 minutes, Helen reached the Training Ring; the others weren't there, and they wouldn't be for another hour or so, so Helen sat in a corner and drew in her sketch book. She drew the sand cities that she had built the day before, and she dew the Night Fury, gazing up at her in fear; and again, looking down at her in anger… Another drawing of the Night Fury portrayed it with her own body at its feet, torn apart and blood dripping from the creature's mouth, the Night Fury glaring forward with its wings spread as if it were about to leap out of the page and attack her in reality. _It could have killed me… so easily…  
_The other teenagers began to arrive, either ignoring or not noticing Helen.

Astrid was a tall, somewhat slender Viking with a BIG temper. She wore a green and brown tank top, with custom made metal shoulder pads with spikes, the shoulder pads were held into place on her shirt by metal pins that had been welded to skulls. The shoulder pads were held in place on the front, and back of her shirt. Her skirt was really just a bunch of leather strips with metal spikes on them, the leather strips were sewn into a leather belt that had skulls all around except where there was a leather pouch that carried her special rock for sharpening the deadly, three foot long axe she kept with her at all times. Astrid's leggings were a dark blue fabric, and she kept the bottoms tucked into her light brown fur boots. Her long, blonde hair was tied back into a short braid, and her bangs were held back by a leather headband. She also wore tan arm bands that went up to the base of her elbows and came down at a point and attached to her finger by a leather ring. Her eyes were a stormy blue. Like the sky, just before it starts raining.

Snotlout was about as tall as Astrid, five-foot seven with a six foot temper, and was very large in muscle. He was a teenager with overdeveloped muscles and a HUGE crush on Astrid. His helmet was a metal bowl-shaped hat with two Ram's horns welded to the sides in a menacing manner. The helmet covered his wild brown hair and kept it from becoming an afro. The black fur vest that he wore was a size too small, which allowed his muscles to appear even more overdeveloped than they already were. He wore a low-cut, short-sleeved tunic to add to the effect the vest was having, along with brown pants that were held up by a metal belt with an Aztec skull symbol etched into the front, adding even further to his 'manliness'. His pants were tucked into dark brown fur boots, and he wore brown armbands that came up to the base of his elbows. His eyes were a deep, muddy green color that held little to no intelligence whatsoever.

Ruffnut and Tuffnut were identical twins, so they were both about five-foot eight, thin by Viking standards, and had long, blonde hair, brown eyes, and a Dragon Tooth necklace, which Tuffnut claimed was a manly amulet, rather than a girly necklace. A metal helmet with two pairs of bull's horns welded to the sides and top sat atop both of their heads, and they both walked with a slouch.  
Ruffnut wore her hair in pigtail braids that were knotted off at the ends. Her vest was leather and covered her light blue tunic, that was tucked in under her dark brown, slightly tattered skirt and her leather belt, under her skirt Ruffnut wore dark brown leggings that were tucked into dark blue fur boots. Her arm bands were similar to Astrid's except they were dark blue.  
Tuffnut wore his hair long and pretty much didn't mess with it. His outfit was a smaller copy of Snotlout's, except Tuffnut didn't have overdeveloped muscles like Snotlout, so his clothes were just the right size, and his vest was a size too big, to make him look bigger. And instead of the metal belt like Snotlout's, Tuffnut's belt was a simple leather strip.

Rosemary was pink. VERY pink. Her small, mini vest had been dyed hot pink, her blonde hair had pink streaks in it, her tummy top was a light pink, her mini skirt was light pink, and her short Capri-leggings that only came down to just above her knee, they were hot pink too. Even her fur boots had been dyed pink. Her eyes were a pale blue color, which she hated them for, so she made up for it by purchasing all the pink makeup available when the boat merchants came. She then suffocated her face in as much pink as possible without looking like a clown. Rosemary never wore a helmet, for fear it would 'mess up her hair'.

Then there was Fishlegs. In one word? Fat. He was HUGE. A six-foot tall giant, who would eat a whole cow for each meal. He wore what the other Viking teens referred to as a dress. It was a long, brown fur vest that didn't open in the front. Why? Because if Fishlegs was one of the more self-conscious Viking men. He was very insecure about everything but statistics. Under his 'dress' Fishlegs wore green leggings that got tucked into his light brown fur boots. His helmet was a simple metal bowl with two bull horns welded to the sides. That sat atop his blonde hair. His eyes were a dark green, like fresh seaweed. Fishlegs knew all about Dragons and their speeds, strengths, and fire power, which made him quite useful.

Helen stood and walked to the center of the arena with the rest of the teens, causing the horde of mockery to begin once they finally noticed her.

"Who let the freakazoid in?" Tuffnut asked in an accusing tone.

"Ha, our parents must be pretty desperate for recruits if they're training Runts." Snotlout joked; everyone thought this was hysterically funny for some reason. Tired of the criticism already, Helen walked back over to her large rock and sat down. She pulled her notebook out once more and started sketching an idea for a new weapon. After about 10 minutes, Helen got up and started her stretches, knowing that Gobber would be entering the ring at any moment.

"**Alright you worthless lot! Line up!**" Called Gobber, right on cue. The feisty Viking rarely spoke below a yell when he was in the Training Ring. Before Helen could get to where they were supposed to line up, her mentor pulled her aside to give her a 'pep talk'.

"Don't worry about the Dragons," Gobber told her, speaking quietly so that the other teens wouldn't overhear him being sympathetic for once in his life. It could ruin his reputation if word got out that he was NICE. "They'll probably see you as sick, or insane, and go for the more Viking-like teens." That was his version of a pep talk, and surprisingly, it actually helped Helen calm down.

The teens all lined up in order of popularity, Astrid, Snotlout, Ruffnut, Tuffnut, Rosemary (Who was still checking out her reflection), Fishlegs, then, finally, Helen.

"**Today you will begin Viking Training. You will learn how to fight Dragons and control your weapons. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays we will fight the Dragons, Tuesdays we will learn about weapons, and on Thursdays, we will take a quick test to find out how far you've gotten so far.**" There was a collective groan from all the teens except Helen, who would rather take a thousand quizzes than risk her life fighting a dragon three times the size of her.

"**The recruit that does the best will get the honor of killing a Monstrous Nightmare.**" Gobber bribed.

"Uh, Helen's already killed a Night Fury, so does that, like, disqualify her?" Snotlout asked, the twins and Astrid laughed, Fishlegs was unsure of how to act, and Rosemary was still checking herself out with her mirror.

"**Enough. Now, behind these doors, are just a few of the many species you will learn to fight.**" Gobber walked over to one of the doors, and walked over to a new one each time he listed off another type of Dragon.

"**The Deadly Nadder,**"

Fishlegs couldn't help himself, he just HAD to list off the statistics, "Speed eight, armor 16."

"**The Hideous Zippleback,**"

"Plus eleven stealth, times two."

"**The Monstrous Nightmare,**"

"Firepower 15."

"**The Terrible Terror,**"

"Attack eight, Venom twel-"

Gobber interrupted him and yelled "**WILL YOU STOP THAT?**" Then resumed in his normal voice,

"**And, the Gronkle.**"

Fishlegs whispered to Helen, "Jaw strength eight." Then noticed, along with all the other teens, that Gobber was reaching for the handle that would open the door and release the Dragon.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Wait! Aren't you gonna teach us first?" Asked Snotlout in a worried tone, nobody would call him a wimp either, because one: he would bash their faces in, and two: because it was what they were all thinking at the moment.

"**I believe in learning on the job.**" Came Gobber's reply. He then pulled on the leaver, allowing the door to open and revealing a very dazed Gronkle. The Gronkle shook his head and blinked a few times before realizing that there were a bunch of armed Viking teenagers in the Ring with him. The Gronkle charged towards the most threatening looking Viking.

"**Gronkles are fat and slow, but they shoot large fireballs, what is the first thing you'll need?**" Gobber was teaching from the sidelines, and making sure that no one actually died.  
"A doctor?" Offered Rosemary, who had never used a weapon bigger than an arrow. Her arrows were now bouncing harmlessly off the Gronkle's tough scales. If she would learn to aim before she shot, she might actually distract the thing.

"Plus five speed?" Guessed Fishlegs, who was, along with Helen, just trying to stay out of the way of the Gronkle and the other teens.

"NO! A shield!" Yelled Astrid, who was expert on fighting Dragons, simply because she had been doing it her whole life.

"**Correct. If you have to choose between a shield and a sword, pick the shield.**" Gobber informed the young Vikings.  
_*__**Puny Humans! I will eat your bones for lunch!***_The Gronkle snorted.

The 'puny humans' ran to the pile of shields in the far left corner of the ring, and each grabbed one. Helen got the shield that had a painting of a red and black snake on it. Astrid grabbed the one with a yellow sun, Snotlout picked the one with a Dragon being stabbed to death painted on it, Fishlegs got the plain brown shield, and Rosemary grabbed the shield with the flower on it. Ruffnut and Tuffnut were fighting over a shield with flames painted on it.

"Let go! It's mine!" Yelled Ruffnut.

"No! It's mine!" Tuffnut replied.

Soon the Gronkle spotted them and shot a fireball at the shield, knocking both of the twins over.  
"**Ruffnut, Tuffnut, you're out.**" Gobber hollered down to them, and then he continued teaching the remaining teens, "**Every Dragon has a limited amount of shots, how many does a Gronkle have?**"

"Five!" Shouted Astrid.

"NO! Six!" Corrected Fishlegs.

"**Good,**" Congratulated Gobber, "**That's one for each of ya.**"

Helen didn't bother to point out that there were, in fact, seven teens. The mathematics would be lost on Gobber.

"Yea-" Started Fishlegs, but then he realized what that meant and his shield was shot out of his hand by the Gronkle.

"**Fishlegs, you're out.**"

_*__**Yes, Fat One, you are out, but soon you shall be IN my stomach!***_

Snotlout tripped over Ruffnut and Tuffnut's destroyed shield and dropped his shield in the process, quickly jumping to his feet, he knew that if he didn't get a shield quickly he would be out. Both literally and figuratively. Snotlout turned and grabbed the shield from Rosemary, who tried to grab it back. This resulted in fighting over the shield, much the same way that Ruffnut and Tuffnut had been fighting over the flame one earlier. The argument ended in the same way also, the Gronkle saw them and shot the shield, knocking them both over.

"**Snotlout, Rosemary, you're out.**"

It was just Helen and Astrid now, but the Gronkle shot a fireball at Helen's shield, knocking it out for her hand, and knocking her backwards. She saw the Dragon coming towards her, and ran after her shield.

_*__**I don't think so...***_The Gronkle growled, and shot a fireball directly in front of Helen, cutting her off and forcing her against the stone wall of the Ring.

"**HELEN!**" Screamed Gobber, he jumped into the Ring and ran over to where the Gronkle had pushed the girl up against the wall. The Gronkle was about to shoot its last fireball for the day directly at Helen's face. Turning her head away like she had done when the Night Fury attacked, the vulnerable young girl hoped that it was a universal sign to Dragons that they shouldn't kill her. Apparently it wasn't, but just as the Gronkle was about to shoot his fireball at Helen, Gobber grabbed the side of its mouth and pulled the Gronkle's head to the left just enough to miss her.

"**That's six. You're all out.**"

The Gronkle continued to struggle against Gobber's grip.

"**Don't worry; you'll get your chance. Now get in there you big wart!**" Gobber swung the Gronkle into his open cage, and then closed the door, trapping the Gronkle in what was referred to as The Dragon pit. The Dragon Pit was a big open area that was surrounded by the Dragon cages, so that if a Dragon died, another one just like it could replace it.

"**Remember,**" Gobber lectured the teens, "**A Dragon will always,**" He looked at Helen now, who was still backed against the stone wall, "**_Always_****, take the kill.**" He walked towards the Training Ring doors and hollered over his shoulder, "**Class dismissed!**" before walking out.

"Jeeze, Helen, way to be useless." Tuffnut teased. Everyone laughed at this, then they all proceeded to exit the arena, leaving Helen to overcome her shock and contemplate what she had just learned.


	5. Chapter 5 The Cove

Helen walked to where she had freed the Night Fury, and where she had almost been eaten. She looked at the rock and remembered being pushed against it, the sharp pain in she had felt her right shoulder when she had hit the rock, the fear she had felt when the Night Fury was in control of the situation, knowing that it could have killed her at any moment. Was that the way the Night Fury had felt when she was going to kill it? No, of course not. Dragons don't have any emotions. That was what the Vikings had been teaching her since she was born: that Dragons were heartless, emotionless, savages that stole that food the Vikings had worked so hard to grow and to take care of until it was time to harvest. Helen remembered what Gobber had said, '_A Dragon will always, ALWAYS, go for the kill...'_ Helen wasn't dead. She knew for a fact that she was very much alive. That meant that the Night Fury _hadn't _gone for the kill. She knelt by one of the rocks that was secured to a fragment of rope left over from the net her machine had thrown. The Night Fury had had a perfect shot, just like the Gronkle; it could have killed her in no time flat, just like the Gronkle. The Gronkle was going to kill her, and if Gobber hadn't saved her, Helen would be just another stain on the wall of the Training Ring. '_A Dragon will ALWAYS go for the kill...'_

"So why _didn't _you?" Helen wondered aloud. She looked up from the rock she was holding, and dropping it, slowly stood up, remembering the Night Fury flying away.  
Helen checked her belt to make sure that she had everything, knife, pencil, Drawing pad, leather lunch bag. Everything was there. Helen took a deep breath, and let it out in a long sigh, knowing this was probably one of the stupidest things she had ever done in her life. Yup, it was right up there with unbinding a live Night Fury. She headed forwards, in the general direction that she had seen the Night Fury go. Helen was an animal lover, and she needed to make sure that the Night Fury was alright. If she didn't find it, it was okay, if she did, it was probably okay, but if it had visible injuries, major ones, not minor ones, such as broken bones, or a tree stuck in its side, well then... she would think of something. But it was probably okay. It was a Dragon after all, and Dragons don't feel pain.  
In order to actually get to the woods, Helen had had to make up some story to Gobber about having a picnic in the woods, to make this story more believable, Helen had packed herself a lunch that consisted of an Oyster Sandwich and a small jar of Ale. The bonus to having this was, if she didn't find the Dragon, she could always find a clearing somewhere and actually have the picnic she had said she would have.

After about an hour of searching, Helen came across a large hill. This was the really big hill that was at the center of the second island of Berk. The hill was really just a pile of rock where there had once been a tall fort. The fort had been built so that the Vikings would have an early warning if the Dragons were attacking. Sadly, the fort had been  
a) too far away from the actual village to do any good,  
and b) WAY too visible to the Dragons.  
It was knocked down within its third raid. The fort had fallen in such a way that the inner walls had stayed somewhat up, but the outside walls, the really big ones, had fallen to make a nice slope. This slope had been weathered and left alone, exposed to nature for so long that it had grown grass and bushes and even a few trees on it, this made it appear very much like a really big hill.  
Helen had come across this hill before, in fact, she had often visited this place as a young girl, when she had discovered the hole that was cleverly hidden by a big bush. This hole used to be the main door of the fort, and that was left was a hole that only a small Viking child could fit through, or, of course, someone Helen's size. The hole had two remaining paths, one that led up to a ledge that overlooked the inner area. The second path led down to the inner area, Helen liked to call the inner area The Cove, because that was what she had made it to be. She had seen the inside of The Cove and had seen it's possibilities, so she dug for weeks trying to make the perfect hole, and had waited patiently for the rainy season. Once it came, her hole filled with water and she began transferring plants from the pond outside her house to this lake she had made. After the bacteria had started growing, Helen had taken buckets of water with live fish in them and let the fish go in the lake. They had reproduced and started their own little ecosystem. Helen had planted flowers on one side of The Cove, and transplanted some tree saplings from out in the woods to inside The Cove. After a while, a beautiful beach with a lovely flower garden and some nice trees for birds to live had been created and thrived, undisturbed by the Viking hunters. Helen came to her Cove whenever she needed to get away from the world, when she needed to feel like she had accomplished something. This was one of those days.  
Entering the tunnel via the hole in the hill, Helen started walking. After about a minute of walking, she came to a fork in the road, one path was clearly leading up, and the other was leading down at a very inconspicuous angle. Helen chose the path on the left, the one that led upwards. At the end of this path there was an opening, again, just big enough for the girl's small frame.  
The opening opened out to a ledge, this ledge was the one that looked out on The Cove. Helen sat down on the ledge, about three feet away from the drop, the drop was only about two feet down, then it stopped and had another, smaller ledge that was at least sixty feet off the ground.  
Just as she was about to pull out her sandwich, she noticed something strange. There were five scales on the ledge, close to where the drop was. Helen walked over, bent down and picked one up. It was about the size of an Oyster and about the color of an Oyster too. The scale was a deep black, and when the sunlight hit it just right it had a bluish tint. It was clearly a Dragon scale, it was too big for anything else, but this was a Dragon scale that Helen had never seen before. '_Night Furies have black scales.'_ She remembered, dropping the scale in shock.  
She looked up to a scraping sound she heard to her right, and scrambled backwards as the Night Fury appeared, looking as if it was struggling, on the side of the 'cliff' to her immediate right. The Dragon was searching desperately for a foothold large enough for it, clawing away at the wall and beating its wings in despair. Eventually the dark Dragon fell to the earth once again, and Helen quickly pulled out her Drawing Pad and started drawing as fast as she could while still paying attention to detail. She started with the head, that was fairly simple, just a circular shape with a neck attached, then she drew the shoulders and wings, those were a bit tricky because the Night Fury kept moving its wings, but Helen drew them in a way she was satisfied with. She then drew the tail, knowing that Dragons have two tailfins, Helen drew them to match the wings, and then she looked down at the Night Fury that was currently on the beach she had made.

"Why don't you just fly away?" She wondered aloud. Then she saw the tailfins,  
or, more accurately, tail_fin_. She quickly smudged out the left tailfin that she had drawn. '_Night Furies must have that so they can turn in the air better...' _Helen was just about to redraw that part of the tail to make it look more realistic, instead of a tail with a big opening on the left side, when she dropped her pencil.

"No!" The wannabe-Viking gasped as her pencil fell to the second ledge and bounced off with a small _clack_, dropping to the earth below. The Night Fury had been paying attention to the fish in Helen's lake up until this point, but now it was staring at the girl who had frozen in mid-reach for the pencil. She stared back. It felt like the universe had just paused; every second seemed like an hour. Helen's eyes did a quick check of the Night Fury, making sure that it was okay.  
She remembered the time she had saved a Terrible Terror from being eaten by a cat. The Dragon had been all out of fire, and had a tear in its wing from said cat. It couldn't fly, and it couldn't fight back, so Helen had saved it. Man, was her dad pissed when he found out. How did he find out?  
Well the foolish hadn't just released the thing into the wild, no, she had kept it in her room so it could heal, and _then _she was going to release it. Her dad had gone into her room one day to find her feeding the Terror half of her dinner. Helen had been punished and the Terrible Terror was now in the Training Ring.  
Helen didn't know why she suddenly thought of this now; she sure as heck wasn't going to be keeping any Dragons in her room, especially a Night Fury of all things.  
Helen's quick examination of the Dragon confirmed that it was indeed okay, and that Night Furies were curious Dragons. It walked cautiously to the base of the wall where the ledge was located. Helen walked over to the edge of the second ledge and looked down at the Dragon. Then she heard and saw the most hilarious thing she had _ever_ seen or heard in her life. The Dragon's stomach growled and it looked away, almost like it was embarrassed.  
Helen pulled out her Oyster sandwich and whistled at the Dragon. It looked up with a look that clearly stated, _Oh HELL no. You did NOT just WHISTLE at me._ Helen held out the sandwich as far as she could reach, The Dragon spotted this immediately and wagged its tail happily, then, opening its mouth, it waited. Helen could see the Dragon's teeth, all sharp and pointy. Those things could rip her open in no time flat. Helen dropped the sandwich into the Dragon's waiting mouth. The Night Fury swallowed the sandwich whole, and then nodded gratefully at the girl.

"You're welcome; just don't expect this to be a regular thing. I already have enough problems in my life, and I don't think adding 'cooks lunch for Dragons' will be very good for my situation." Helen told the Dragon. It seemed to understand this and turned away from her, walking over to the cave that Helen had often used when she spent the night at her Cove. It went inside, and was probably going to go to sleep.  
The young woman looked up at the sky, and knew it was time for her to start heading home as well. Nodding goodbye to the Dragon in her Cove, Helen turned and walked down the path she had come by, out the secret entrance, and started through the woods in the general direction of home.


	6. Chapter 6 Class ReCap

Helen exited the Cove as the last rays of light disappeared over the horizon. Breathing in the scent of nature and the forest, the girl began her trek back to the village. The darkness surrounded her, and she gazed at the night world. The moon illuminated very little in this dense part of the forest, but Helen could see everything clearer than if it were daylight. All of her senses heightened in the dark, almost like a cat, but much more powerful. She could smell the snake that slithered down the trunk of the nearby tree, waiting for a stray mouse to near. She could hear the river flowing up ahead, and she could feel the ground vibrate with the movements of the critters that hurriedly searched for food in the dense brush that surrounded Helen's path. The feeling of complete and utter awareness of her surroundings was not something Helen got to enjoy during the day, her ability to see during the day was hindered greatly by the sunlight, which tended to glare into her eyes and make everything around her seem too bright. She momentarily wondered if this was how the other Vikings felt all the time; were their senses as heightened during the day as hers were at night?  
Did it matter? They were still better than her, so it really didn't, but Helen was different. She wondered things, and that was what set her apart from the other Vikings. She wondered how Vikings first came to Berk, she wondered how they had gained the vast knowledge of ships and weaponry that they now used, she wondered the most basic of things, such as why was the sky blue? To the most complicated and taboo of things to wonder, why do we fight Dragons?  
She had just seen firsthand that Dragons, or, at least Night Furies, would not attack unless provoked. She had just fed a _Night Fury _a freaking _Oyster Sandwich!_ No other Viking would have done that, they simply would have killed the damn thing, so why didn't she? '_Uggg, so many questions, so many answers, so little time before the Class Re-Cap…_  
_The Class Re-Cap!_  
_Shit!'_

Helen ran down the hill and through the village, running as fast as she could to get to the Mess Hall in time to be fashionably late. Then, it started raining.  
_'Great.'_  
Helen dashed through the slightly ajar doors of the Mess Hall and calmly walked over to the table that had been overtaken by her fellow Viking Trainees. A small plate with a small chicken leg had been left for her, along with a small cup of Ale; well, at least they had left something.  
The small group that could be considered a class was talking about everybody's skill in the ring on the first day.

"**Where did Astrid go wrong today?**" Gobber bellowed to the class, all of the guys started up their false charm once again, all of them trying to win the heart of Astrid.  
They didn't know that Astrid already had her eyes on someone.

"I messed up on my summersault dive, it was sloppy, and it almost cost me my life." Astrid was always one for admitting to her faults, but she was even better at pointing out other's even bigger screw-ups.

"Yeah, we, like, noticed." Ruffnut sneered, but it was all in fair game, they were best friends, and they teased each other all the time.

"**Where did Helen go wrong?**" Gobber asked as soon as he saw her.

_'Great, just what I need: criticism.' _Helen thought to herself, knowing that a torrent of snide remarks about how her even being _alive_ was a nuisance of its own. Like she could help the fact that she was alive! Well, she _could_, but that wouldn't be the smartest of ideas, and it would only prove that she was as weak as they said she was.

The torrent began.

"Uhh, she _showed up_?"

"She didn't get _eaten_?"

"She wasn't _dead_ when it was _over_?"

"She was _never_ where she was _supposed_ to be." Astrid finally came up with a decent answer as Helen grabbed her plate and headed towards the empty table next to her class's.

"**Correct. Now, in order to be a… Projectile… Viking, you need to know yer enemy. Read this manual and learn it. All of the Dragons have been calibration-ated in here, and ya need to know ther… **uh… not… so… tough-nesses… yeah**.**" He petered off somewhat when he lost his train of thought, then Gobber dropped a nice, thick book on the table where the rest of the class was sitting; Helen dully noted that Gobber was attempting to sound smart by using some of the smart-sounding words that she had used in the Forges. He failed epically. She didn't think he knew what any of the 'smart words' he had just used meant.

"Wait! You mean read?"

"While we're still alive?"

"Why?"

"Why read about it when you can just go out and kill it?"

"I'm outta here." Everyone followed Snotlout and Astrid, everyone, that is, except Helen. Helen stayed up for half the night reading the book, only stopping when she realized that she was so tired she was practically asleep already. Picking up the book and placing it in her satchel, the tired Viking walked home.  
When she got there, she placed the book on the table and stumbled into the living room, tripping over many things in the process, including herself. Helen eventually gave up trying to find the stairs, and she just flopped onto the couch, asleep before she even hit the cushion.

**_In the Cove, shortly after the Night Fury has entered his Cave of Darkness…_**

The Dragon watched the small dwarf-like creature nod it's farewell, then leave. He watched until it disappeared, and then got back to doing… absolutely nothing. It was stuck in a Cove, granted, it was a nice Cove, nice flowers, a nice lake with some fish. Obviously a lot of time and effort had been put into making this Cove. But nonetheless, he was still stuck. The Oyster sandwich he had just eaten would hold him over until the morning, but the Dragon needed more than that. He needed fish. So why not fish for them?

Because without his tailfin, everything was off balance. He was stuck there in the cove with no chance of survival whatsoever. *_Unless, of course, the Creature-That-Resembles-A-Viking-But-As-A-Fairy-Princess intends on bringing me food every day. Hah! That's just plain ridiculous, what kind of idiot would trust a Dragon enough to bring it food every day?*_


	7. Chapter 7 Christening of the Dragon

Helen didn't know what possessed her to do it, but about three days after she had given the thing a sandwich, she was bringing the Dragon a fish. Icelandic Cod, to be exact. She was now at the entrance to her clearing, shield in one hand, fish in the other, and cautiously moving forward.  
Her plan would have worked perfectly too, if the shield hadn't caught on the walls of the narrow pathway.  
_'Great. Just what I need. Whatever, not like anybody will miss me if I die…Besides, this place needed a door'._ Helen thought morbidly. She then hugged the fish to her, so as to not get dirt on it, and ducked under the shield. Straightening up, she examined her surroundings, slowly walking out further into the clearing. '_Okay, I see the lake, the trees, a Hell of a lot of rocks, now where's the Night Fury?'_  
A small rock about the size of Helen's hand fell down from the low ledge behind her. She spun around and immediately her gaze locked with the Dragon's. Their matching eyes staring, both unable to break the eye contact; neither really wanting to.

The Night Fury had started his day by waking up and failing once again at catching any fish. Over a period of four days, all he had had to eat was a small oyster sandwich.  
He was hungry.  
After failing at the 'fishing' thing, the Night Fury decided to just relax and see if he could die while still sleeping, a painless way to go, and one he was comfortable with at this point. He had just gotten comfortable when he smelled something familiar. What was that scent? *_Oh yes, the small Fairy/Viking-Creature. What is she doing back here?*_  
He tensed his muscles and waited patiently, waiting for the girl to come within his line of sight so he could scare the living daylights out of her. He heard a sound like wood getting caught on something; it was coming from the small pathway to his right. He adjusted so that he could observe that area, and then stilled himself, once again, waiting for the perfect moment.

He heard an aggravated sigh, then saw the girl duck under something and straighten, she was clutching a fish to her chest and looking everywhere except where he was.

_*Ooh! Fish! I hope it's for me!* _The Night Fury wagged his broken tail in anticipation, and then caught himself. *_What the Hell? I am supposed to be the most feared of all creatures, not some domestic house pet! Why am I getting all excited just because she has a fish with her? Maybe it's the hunger. Yeah. That's it, I'm just really hungry and I WANT that fish…* _  
The Night Fury had unknowingly taken a step forward in his eagerness to get the fish, and in doing so, he had knocked a small rock over the edge of the ledge he was perched on. The girl spun around and their gazes locked. A chill ran down the Night Fury's spine, a chill unlike any he had ever felt before. He completely forgot about the fish, completely forgot about his surroundings. To him, it seemed like the only things in the universe were himself, and the small failure of a Viking. He was perfectly content to just stay where he was and to gaze deeply into that girl's neon green eyes that were unnervingly similar to his own.

Sadly, however, the moment ended when his stomach growled.

Helen cocked her head to the side when she heard an ominous rumbling sound that emanated from the Night Fury's belly. She then remembered the fish that she had brought with her.

Holding the fish out with one hand, she moved backwards slowly, so as to allow room for the Dragon in front of her to climb down from its high perch. The dragon did so, and began stalking towards her; much like a cat would stalk a mouse. Helen stopped backing up and allowed the deadly creature to get closer. Which it did, until it smelled the metal of her knife. The Night Fury backed up immediately and hissed at the girl, who instantly glanced down to her knife, which was still in her belt. '_How did I manage to fall asleep with that there and NOT stab myself to death?'_  
Helen grabbed the handle of the knife, and pulled it out of the sheath, dropping it quickly.  
The Night Fury looked down at the blade and gestured towards the water with its head.

***Get rid of it, then I will come closer.* **He growled. Helen nodded wordlessly and kicked the knife about five yards into the lake before holding the fish out once more as a peace offering, hoping with all her might that she wasn't about to die.

The Night Fury instantly calmed down. It sat down, much like a cat would and tilted it's head to the side. It was actually a pretty cute expression.  
Helen held the fish out once more and the Night Fury neared again, this time more relaxed because it knew that the threat was gone. It was now only inches away from Helen as it opened its mouth revealing… Gums.

Pink, soft, squishy, harmless gums.

"Weird…" Helen wondered aloud. "I could have _sworn _you had-"

The Night Fury grew impatient and retracted his teeth, snatching the fish away in an instant.

"Teeth…" Helen mumbled.

As soon as he remembered that there was something other than himself in the clearing, the Night Fury turned back to the Viking dwarf. He inched closer, sniffing at the girl's vest as she backed up until she hit a small boulder that was on the beach. Once she hit the large rock, she slid down, making herself appear even smaller than she really was, and making herself less of a target.

"No! No! …I don't have any more…" She whispered to him, her eyes wide in fear.

***Ug. Stupid Human. No wonder you are so skinny, you should have brought food for yourself. It isn't healthy for a Human, much less a Viking, to be this anorexically skinny.* **The Night Fury grumbled.

"Hey!" The girl retorted defensively, surprising the Dragon slightly. "I may be skinny, but I am NOT anorexic!" She folded her arms in front of her and turned her head so that she wasn't looking at the Night fury any more. She proceeded to sulk childishly.

***Wait…* **The Night Fury began, thoroughly shocked at the fact that a Human could understand him. ***you can… UNDERSTAND me?***

The girl looked at him once more, "Yeah, why?" She looked thoroughly confused, just as he was.

***Hu-Humans can't understand us… so… why can you?*** He stepped closer to her, their faces only centimeters apart.

"I have no idea. Maybe I really AM insane like everyone says. Maybe I am simply imagining that I can hear you peaking to me. But then again, if I was just hearing things then you wouldn't be looking at me like that… Why are you looking at me like that?" The girl rambled until she noticed that the Dragon she was rambling to was _extremely _close to her face.

The Night Fury smirked, then spoke without thinking. ***Because you're cute when you ramble.***

The small Viking's eyes got wide as she stared at the large Dragon in front of her.

_*Oh shit.*_ Thought the Night Fury. *_I did NOT just say that…* _

Helen's mind was going about a million miles per hour. '_WHAT! I'm "cute when I ramble"? Is a Dragon FLIRTING WITH ME! I don't know whether to be flattered or disgusted or just plain freaked out!  
Okay, okay, just calm down, there's probably a logical explanation for this…  
A logical explanation that I can't think of at the moment.  
Shit.  
Why is he staring at me like that? Why did I just think of it as a he? A Dragon is a THING! That is what I have always been taught. They are emotionless, they are murderous thieves, and they have no feelings! But if they don't have feelings… then… why did he just say I was… cute…? What if they aren't as emotionless as we originally thought? What if they DO have feelings, what if they really CAN feel emotions?  
But that would go against everything that we had ever been taught.  
Pfft.  
WE? What we? I have always been an outcast. I have always been the example of what NOT to do. I am the Anti-Viking. Why not just add the fact that a Dragon thinks I'm cute when I rant to the list of things that make me an outcast?  
At least SOMEONE likes me; if it's a Dragon, then so what? At least there's someone out there that thinks of me as something other than a failure.  
Wait. Crap, there I go again; personifying an animal.  
What if he's more than an animal? He sure has showed that he has emotions, and a personality. And he can be cute sometimes, like right after I got rid of my dagger and…  
WAIT!  
Did I just say that a DRAGON was cute?'_  
Helen moved her hand up to her face and pinched the bridge of her nose. _My life is SO fucked up… _She thought in despair. She then opened her eyes and lowered her hand, looking curiously at the Night Fury that was still only inches away from her face.

"Um… So…" She was desperately trying to find something to talk about OTHER than what the Night Fury had just said to her. "Um… do you… have a name?" She asked before really thinking about it.

***No. Do you?* **The Dragon was relieved that she hadn't brought up his previous comment. Maybe she hadn't heard it.

"Yeah, my name is Helen." Helen responded, and, once again, attempting to make conversation, asked her next question. "Do you want me to call you something? I mean 'Dragon' seems a bit… impersonal, like you're an object, not a living creature."

***Hmm…* **The Night Fury actually seemed to consider this. ***Well, what would ****_you_**** like to call me?* **He asked, tilting his head to the side and, realizing how close he was, he backed up a bit. There was now a small distance between the two.

"I don't know, what does one usually call a Dragon?"

***Vermin. Beast. Devil. Creature. Monster. You name it, I've probably been called it at one time or another.***

"Good point. How about any _nice _names? Have you ever been called anything _other _than some form of insult?"

***No.***

"Oh. Well… How about… let's see, you are a Night Fury, so… Fury?"

***If you don't mind, I'd rather not be called by a name that one of those Vikings made up.***

"I'm a Viking."

***You are? You don't look like a Viking. And you certainly don't act like one.* **The Night Fury tilted his head to the side once more in question.

"Thanks." Helen's tone was dripping with sarcasm.

***It's a compliment, so you're welcome.* **

"Okay, um… Killer?"

***No.***

"Ebony?"

***That sounds like a girl's name.***

"Ebono?"

***Ha, ha. No.***

"Ug. Picky Dragon. How about… Toothless?"

***Toothless?***

"Yeah, because you can retract your teeth and make it look like you don't have any teeth."

***Okay. I like it.***

"What?" Helen was astounded. She had just been randomly throwing it out there, she didn't actually expect the Night Fury to like the idea!

***I like the name. It sounds good. I am now known as 'Toothless'. Cool. I've never had a name before. It feels good.***

"Uh… okay, Toothless, now what?"

***I don't know. It is getting late by Human standards, you should probably be heading home so you don't get lost or injured.***

"It's fine, I know the path from here to my house like the back of my hand."

***How well do you know the back of your hand?***

"…not very well… look, it's a metaphor, okay? Don't take it literally." Thor decided at that moment to make it rain heavily.

***Great. Rain.***

"What's wrong with the rain?"

***It is annoying and it makes me cold.***

"Ya know, for a Dragon, you sure do complain a lot." Helen huffed under her breath, brushing a few strands of her already soaked hair out of her face.

***Ya know, for a Viking, you sure do use your brain a lot… oh wait… that isn't an insult… hold on a moment. I need to think of an insult.* **

Helen smirked. "Okay, I'll be here, waiting."

Toothless huffed and got up, turned around and sulked over to his cave, leaving Helen behind in the rain.

Helen got up and looked up at the sky, closing her eyes and letting the raindrops fall on her face, soaking her clothes and making her shiver. She didn't care. She was happy that she had the time to enjoy nature and the rain without having to worry about all the other Vikings making fun of her.

Toothless just lay down and watched Helen as she stood there in the rain with her eyes closed. She shivered visibly and violently, but she didn't seem to notice. He sighed and then called out to her through the sound of the storm.

***Helen.* **The girl opened her eyes and glanced over to him, surprised that he had remembered her name.

"…Yes?"

***Get over here.* **The Dragon ordered.

"What?" The girl looked confused, as though she though it was perfectly logical to stand out in the middle of a rain storm.

***Get your skinny ass over here before you catch hypothermia.* **The Dragon ordered, more forcefully this time.

"Yes, sir." Helen saluted playfully before running over to her new Dragon friend.

Toothless smirked to himself before using his head to gesture beside him, ***Sit.***

"Okay." The girl obeyed, sitting down next to Toothless, still not touching him.  
The Dragon quickly remedied this by using his tail to slide Helen closer, causing the girl to lean against his side.  
At first she tensed up, not prepared for any physical contact besides the kind that hurt, but she soon relaxed as the warmth of the Dragons skin seeped through her damp clothing. She closed her eyes involuntarily and realized just how tired she was. Soon, Helen was fast asleep against Toothless' side.

The Dragon watched as she fell asleep, and he soon followed suit.


	8. Chapter 8 The Journal

**A/N: This chapter will be slightly different from the others… I haven't updated this thing for a while, and my writing style has somewhat changed since then. I think I'll still have the POV things, because they need to happen on occasion, but they probably won't happen AS often.**

Bold is for when Gobber is talking.  
_Italics is for when I am putting emphasis on something.  
_Underlined is going to be for the line breaks.  
**_*Bold Italics with the astrix thing is when a dragon is talking*  
_**_Underlined Italics is for when someone is reading something that is written down. Don't ask. You'll see.__**  
**_  
This is a Line Break. WOO!

Helen woke up in her cave and stretched, sticking her tongue out as she yawned. She stood and stretched her back, popping several kinks out before rotating her neck with the same result. After she had stretched sufficiently, she tiredly trudged over to the shore of the lake and removed her heavy vest and boots. Helen walked into the cold water until it was up to her elbows, and then dove under. She swam down to the bottom as she had done several times before, allowing the cold water to surround her. She scanned the area, a few stray air bubbles escaping from her lips as she smirked at a passing fish. A shadow passed over the surface of the water and a loud boom reverberated through the water. Helen immediately remembered Toothless and swam to the surface. The loud noise had been from Toothless trying to fly once more, and instead hitting the rock walls of the cove.

"Toothless!" Helen cried out, swimming to the shore and running to her unmoving friend. The dragon's eyes were closed, and he didn't move when she shook him. "Toothless! Wake up!" Helen frantically placed her ear to his chest to try and find her friend's heartbeat. She soon found herself on her back and pinned down by a suddenly playful dragon, however.

**_*Expect the unexpected, or you'll never survive around those pompous morons.*_** Toothless told her with a smirk, wagging his tail excitedly.

Helen smirked right back. "Expect the unexpected." She repeated, and Toothless found himself on HIS back, with Helen sitting triumphantly on his chest. The dragon stared at her in surprise.

**_*How did you do that?*_** he asked her, rolling over and squishing her before standing. Helen merely shrugged and walked over to her vest and boots.

"I've been able to do stuff like that ever since I can remember. I'm stronger than the other Vikings, faster and more accurate with weapons too. None of them know about it, because if they did I'd be cast off or killed for being a demon." Helen noticed Toothless' strange look and quickly added, "I'm NOT a demon, but the other Vikings are very superstitious. I think my weird abilities have something to do with my mother's death, and because I don't have Dr-" Helen paused, unsure about how the Night Fury would feel about her taking a Viking class on how to kill a Dragon. "…VIKING… class today, I'm gonna snoop around my house and look for answers. I'll be back tonight with fish, okay?"

**_*Okay. Have fun. Be careful* _** After realizing that it may have sounded somewhat like he actually CARED about Helen, he quickly added, **_*I don't think those other Bastards would bring me food, and I'm sort of stuck here.* _** He huffed, pawing at the ground agitatedly.

"Of course, I will be VERY careful and make sure to bring you your food." Helen smirked, shaking all thoughts of how the Dragon was being cute out of her mind. She jogged over to her small opening, ducking under the shield and out into the open forest. With a sigh of happiness, Helen ran. She ran as fast as she could, over moss, roots, dirt, and rocks. She had never felt as happy as she did now, never felt as FREE. Meeting and befriending Toothless had been the best thing to happen in her fucked up life. Toothless made her feel important, like she actually had a purpose on this island that she had called home for sixteen years. It was nice to have a friend, she decided, slowing down and jogging at a reasonable pace into the village. She snuck into her house quietly, in case Gobber had stayed at her house and waited for her. Helen began walking towards the stairs before groaning inwardly. Her clothes were at the Forges. She walked out of her house and slammed the large doors behind her, muttering to herself about having to get new material to make new clothes.  
Gobber was in the forges, hammering away at a new sword for someone and humming to himself. Helen walked slowly past, attempting to get past him without getting his attention. Just as she passed by, she felt a tug at her shirt and she was lifted off of the ground.

**"Just what do ya thenk yer doin?"** Gobber asked the squirming girl.

"Just getting a change of clothes… Mine all got burned by the fire…" Helen squeaked, trying to escape from Gobber's grip on the back of her shirt. Gobber nodded, but then noticed something on Helen's vest.

**"What is THAT?" ** He asked, gesturing to a single black dragon's scale that was stuck on the fur of Helens vest. Helen gulped, quickly thinking of some possible scenario in which she could manage to get a NIGHT FURY scale on her vest.

"It looks like a scale… I was in the woods and I fell, it must have gotten stuck when I rolled down the hill…" Gobber eyed Helen carefully, but set her down and allowed her to scamper off to her work area and grab her change of clothes. Helen ran out of the forges as soon as she had her clothes, and jogged back to her house where she changed clothes and began her search.  
The attic didn't give her any clues about anything, as it held only spare furniture and a few stray Dragon bones. Her father's room, however, was an entirely different story. Helen wasn't allowed into her father's room, ever. But because he was gone and wouldn't know, she entered confidently.  
The room had only a few pieces of furniture: a bed, a dresser, a large set of bookshelves that held not books, but weapons, and a trunk that sat, locked, at the foot of Stoic's large bed.  
This was where Helen's lock picking skills came in handy. She knew that the dresser would hold only clothes and underwear, and she had no desire to find out what size trunks her father wore, so she headed straight to the trunk. A few minutes of fumbling and one broken pick later, Helen sat in front of an opened memory Trunk. After sifting through a few pieces of armor, a couple small dragon bones, and some of her mother's old clothing, Helen came across a journal. Sitting with her back against the trunk, Helen began reading.

_Dear Journal,  
Today I met the most amazing man, his name is Stoic the Vast, and MY is he VAST…_

Helen skipped ahead, disgusted at what she had just read. Flipping through her mother's journal, she stopped at a page that was blotted with tear stains.

_Dear- Oh forget it. There was a dragon raid today and I joined in even though I had been warned by the medicine woman that it would have serious consequences. I thought that she was just being a superstitious old hag because I'm pregnant, but no. I was hit today, and I will most likely die, along with the baby…_

Dear Journal,  
Great news! Though I will most likely no survive through the birth of the child, the medicine woman has found a way to save the baby!

Dear Journal,  
It has been three months since the medicine woman told me that she had found a remedy, and I have been taking the remedy daily for those three months. I've been taking more than necessary, because I want the baby to live and be healthy. The medicine woman gave me enough to last for the remaining six months in the pregnancy the first time that she gave it to me… I have gone back to her three times since then… She told me that it was unwise for me, that it could cause some side effects… That old bitch only wants my baby to be normal. If I will die during the birth, then I want my baby to be strong and healthy, so that it-SHE- will live a VERY long time, and be a LEGENDARY dragon slayer.

Dear Journal…  
It's been three months since I last wrote in you… The baby is due soon… The medicine woman told me what was in her remedy today… Dragon… The FUCKING remedy was made out of DRAGON SCALES. She ground the scales into a powder and mixed it with Dragon's blood…. After the raids she gathers the scales that have fallen off of the dragons… The remedy is made of two scales from each dragon, except the Night Fury… She uses eight Night Fury scales, because Night Furies are the fastest healers, according to the Gods or some shit like that… In the right dosage, the remedy would have healed the baby with no worries or side effects, but with the amounts I've been taking it in… The baby will not be human…


	9. Chapter 9 Eels and Downed Dragons

**A/N: So… I have nothing to do at the moment… I'm gonna write the next chapter… This one will probably be a bit longer, because Helen has to tell Toothless what happened in the previous chapter, but I also wanna get another day of Training knocked out.  
You know the drill…  
****_*This is the dragons speaking*  
_**_This is emphasis on something.  
__This is writing, although I think I'm done with that for now…  
_**"This is Gobber speaking"**  
Also, I don't own anything except my own ideas.

Line Break

Toothless looked up, the sound of footsteps having awakened him, and the familiar scent of Helen causing him to subconsciously wag his tail. He sniffed the air again and smelled fish, lots of it too. Helen walked slowly over to where he lay patiently, and dropped the large basket that she had carried on her back in front of him, tipping it over so that an abundance of fish spilled out in front of him. His stomach growled hungrily, but he ignored it, noticing instead Helen's look of despair and confusion that was plainly written on her face. She sat on a small rock and picked up a twig, drawing in the sand at her feet. Toothless noticed how small she looked, how fragile and weak she looked, but he remembered how earlier she had flipped him over with ease. *_Looks sure can be deceiving…*_ He thought to himself as he crept up behind his friend to see what she was drawing. The Dragon tilted his head to the side and realized that she was drawing HIM. Helen looked up at her friend and smiled, causing his heart to skip a beat. But Toothless was no fool, he could see the sadness behind her smile, and he was determined to cheer her up. He ran over to a small, dying tree, and broke it off at the bottom, effectively making a Dragon-sized drawing stick. Smiling at Helen with his stick in his mouth, Toothless began drawing. At first, he had no idea what to draw for her, but he soon figured it out. Helen was the sort of girl that loved to learn, and Toothless figured that nothing would make his friend happier than to learn something new about dragons, so he drew his defensive fire pattern. The pattern was used when he was faced with an opponent too great to take on with simple one-shot breaths. It used 1/3 of his supply, but it was worth it to momentarily stun his opponent. The Night Fury was the only Dragon able to do a defensive fire pattern to that extent, and Toothless had only ever had to use his once. Once he was done with his drawing, Toothless grunted to Helen.

**_*There. What do you think?*_** Helen looked around her at the curves and loops that Toothless had drawn for her. Standing, she took a step forward, accidentally stepping on one of the lines. Toothless growled a warning. **_*Don't step there. The lines represent fire. This is my Defensive Fire Pattern, so I'd advise you to NOT step on the flames.*_** Helen nodded, smiling. She stepped over the lines and into the centers of the loops, moving gracefully as if she were dancing. Toothless sat, enchanted by her movements, watching her slim figure move over the lines that he had drawn. She was nearing the end, and backed up slowly before realizing that she was right in front of Toothless. She spun around and looked up into his eyes. The Dragon stared back, wanting to get closer to Helen, but too afraid of the consequences. Befriending a Viking was definitely taboo, and Toothless was afraid that he had gotten beyond befriending Helen. He was connected to her somehow, and he could sense that, although his drawing had made her happier, there was still something bothering her. Toothless used his fire to warm the ground beneath him, and lay down on the glowing rocks, looking up at Helen before motioning for her to sit next to him with his tail and speaking to her once more.

**_*What's wrong?*_** Helen sat and stared at him for a moment before bringing her legs in close and beginning her story.

"I found my answers today…" She sighed, staring off as the sun sank down past the rock walls of the cove. Toothless waited patiently for her to continue. "I didn't like them too much, although they DID explain some things. Like why I can understand Dragons and why I'm so much stronger than the rest of the Vikings… My mother… When she was pregnant… She was injured by a Dragon during a raid… The medicine woman told her to take a special remedy, but my mother took too much… She would drink a six-month supply in one month… The remedy… It was made out of…" Helen shook, stopping her story in fear of angering Toothless.

**_*Go on.* _**He friend encouraged, nudging her arm with his nose. Helen reached down by where Toothless was laying and grabbed one of the red-hot rocks, clenching it in her fist tightly and alarming Toothless more than a little.

"The remedy was made out of Dragon scales and blood… I developed inside of my mother with Dragon DNA helping me… I'm not human, Toothless… I'm part Dragon…" She dropped the rock, showing Toothless her unharmed hand, then pulled it back and sobbed.  
Toothless wasn't sure how to respond… HE didn't think that being a Dragon was all that bad… But then again, HE had been a Dragon his entire life, whereas Helen was just now finding out about it. He curled around Helen, laying his head on her lap and looking up at her.

**_*Hey, don't worry about it. You're still YOU, aren't you? And I think that you're just right, even before I knew you were part awesome.* _**Helen chuckled at that and scratched behind Toothless' ear, making him purr happily.

"Thanks, Toothless. I appreciate it. You'd better go eat your fish though… Don't want it to go bad." Toothless jumped up happily and ran over to his pile of fish, sniffing it eagerly before noticing a strange smell.

**_*What is that sme-*_** He stopped when he saw it. Eel. **_*GAH!*_** Helen ran over immediately.

"What's wrong?!"

**_*Eel!*_**

"What's wrong with it?"

**_*Eel blood is poisonous to Dragons!*_** Toothless hissed at the eel as if it were going to come back to life and bite him.

"Oh. Shit." Helen quickly removed the eel, making sure that it didn't have any cuts that would cause the other fish to become deadly to Toothless. Once she was sure that it didn't, she threw it to the side and out of her friend's way. "Sorry, I didn't mean to, I just sort of grabbed the first full basket that I saw. I'll make sure to hand-pick the fish from now on."

**_*Good. I don't feel like dying of Eel poisoning.*_** Toothless muttered playfully before gobbling down his fish. After he had eaten all of his meal, he snuck quietly to his cave, where Helen was already sleeping. Toothless lay down next to the small Viking, pulling her closer with his tail so that she would stay warm through the night, before falling asleep himself.

Line Break

Toothless woke up the next morning to find that Helen was no longer snuggled up close to him. At first he panicked, thinking that he had possibly rolled over and crushed her in his sleep, but quickly found a large fish with a note from Helen's sketch book.

_Hey Sleepy Head, I had to leave for class this morning, but I caught you a fish to hold you over until I get back. I also got rid of that stinky Eel for you.  
-Helen_

Toothless smiled, happy that his friend was not dead, but had instead gone to class, AND taken the eel with her. He gobbled up the fish and took a drink from the lake before going back to doing… absolutely nothing… again… He absentmindedly wondered what kind of class HELEN would be taking. _*Probably some baking class or something.* _Toothless smirked at the idea of Helen trying to make a pie or a loaf of bread before he decided to take a nap while he waited for her to come back.

Meanwhile, Helen was in her Viking Training class, where they were learning how to be scared shitless and throw water at Dragons. The Zippleback was their opponent today, with two identical heads it was twice the trouble. One head breathed a deadly and flammable gas, while the other ignited it by snapping its back teeth together to create a spark that it could carry to the front and out of its mouth with its tongue. In order to disable it, the Viking students needed to figure out which head lit the gas, and then splash water on it. The water would cause that head to be unable to bring the spark outside of its mouth, and the only way to light the gas would be to light ITSELF on fire as well. Rosemary had accidentally dropped her bucket of water while checking her reflection to make sure that her lipstick was still bright pink, so she had been disqualified and, after talking to Goober for a while, had also quit training. Snotlout and Tuffnut had used their buckets to splash Astrid and Ruffnut on accident, and the two girls had used theirs to get revenge on the stupid boys. This left Fishlegs and Helen, who stood back-to-back as they strained to see through the green cloud of gas. One of the head appeared and Fishelgs immediately threw his water on it. The Dragon shook its head and chuckled, green gas seeping out of its mouth.

**_*Wrong one, imbecile…*_** The other head appeared and clicked threateningly at Fishlegs.

"Whoops… Wrong head…" Fishlegs squeaked before screaming and running to the sidelines. Helen threw her bucket of water at the correct head, but the water fell just short of the Dragon's face.

"Oh, COME ON!" Groaned Helen. The Dragon tilted its heads at her and reared back, about to set her on fire.

**_*Weakling can't even throw water right…*  
*She'll NEVER be a Viking…*_**

Helen glared at the Dragons, stepping forward and allowing them to get a whiff of the eel in her vest. The Dragons got wide-eyed and backed up in fear. Helen continued forward, yelling "Back!" at them several times until they were in their cell. Closed the doors, but before they were closed entirely, she growled lowly to the Zippleback, "You're right. I'll NEVER be one of THEM." With that, Helen shut and locked the doors, turning to see the surprised faces of her classmates.

"Well…" She said nervously, "If that's all then… uh… Bye…" Helen quickly scampered off to her house, where she went through the basket of fish that she had gotten earlier and made sure that there was no eel in it. Once she was 100% positive that there was no eel, she began sewing a new set of clothes to replace the ones that had been lost in the fire. By the time she had finished with the shirt, it was time for the Class Re-Cap.  
The students met at the fire pit in the center of town, where they had a small barbecue as they discussed anything but that day's class. Helen had been zoned out until she heard Snotlout say something particularly stupid.

"I will avenge your precious hand and leg! I'll chop off the legs of all the Dragons I kill. With my FACE."

**"No, don't do that. Go fer the wings and tail. Dragon kan't fly without them. And a downed Dragon is a dead Dragon."** Gobber informed them. Helen stood up with realization and ran to the forges. She worked all night and into the morning on her surprise for Toothless.

Line Break

Toothless had woken up several times throughout the day, each time harder to go back to sleep than the last. He worried about Helen. _*What if her baking class caught on fire and she got stuck inside? No. She wouldn't die because of that… What if she slipped and fell on a sword of knife? What if she drowned while fishing? What if someone fed her an eel as a prank!* _Toothless paced back and forth, then lay down and pawed at the ground restlessly as he watched the entrance to the cove. The sky grew dark and Toothless grew even more concerned.


	10. Chapter 10 Promises and Test Flights

Helen wiped the sweat from her brow as she admired her handiwork. She had spent all night working on a prototype tailfin for Toothless. Made of tough leather and spare metal, it was resistant enough to properly test, but wouldn't be too terrible of a loss if it were to break or not work. After wrapping the fake tailfin in a large sheet of cloth to conceal it, Helen dashed to her house, grabbed the basket of fish that was half-frozen due to the cold, and ran through the woods to go see Toothless. The darkness of night began to give way to the light of dawn, and the rising suns cast eerie shadows over the path on which Helen ran. The girl's eyes narrowed, focusing on the nearing rock ledge. It was a short drop that she had jumped over many times before, but today she was carrying more than a simple lunchbox or change of clothes, so she slowed, leaping off carefully and landing with a _thud_on the ground before bursting into a sprint once more. As Helen neared the hidden entrance to the Cove, she slowed down, entering the tunnel at a slow jog and slowing even further to a walk as she neared the newly-made shield-door. The small Viking took the basket of fish off of its secure place on her back, made sure that the top was tightly latched, and rolled it under the shield. She then ducked under the shield, holding the wrapped tailfin close to her as she stepped out into the open and onto a stray twig.

Toothless lifted his head at the sound of a twig snapping, sniffing the air and leaping to his feet once he recognized the scent. He ran over to Helen and tackled the unsuspecting girl to the ground, knocking a bundle of fabric out of her hands. The Night Fury licked the side of his friend's face excitedly and nuzzled her neck, purring happily now that he knew his friend was safe. He then remembered that she had scared the living daylights out of him for a prolonged amount of time, and lifted his head, glaring down at the shocked girl.

**_*Don't you DARE scare me like that again!*_**But, seeing her frightened expression, Toothless couldn't stay mad at Helen. It didn't seem right, so he nuzzled her neck again to show her that he was more relieved than mad. Once Helen figured this out, she relaxed and petted Toothless on the head before speaking to the purring Dragon.

"I'm sorry. Class went later than expected, and I got an idea right in the middle of it. I brought fish?" She offered hopefully, remembering the tail and highly doubting that Toothless would let her mess with his TAIL, the very thing that helped him survive, willingly. Her bribe worked, and Toothless leapt off of her, sitting anxiously near the discarded basket of fish and waited for her to open it for him. Helen complied, unlatching the basket and tipping it slightly to empty some of the fish onto the ground before Toothless. Once the Dragon was thoroughly distracted, Helen grabbed the replacement tailfin and snuck over to where the real deal lay, twitching slightly with Toothless' happiness. She sat down on the part of Toothless' tail that lay directly behind the tailfin and unwrapped her newly made contraption, clasping the first buckle around the base of the real fin. Leaning forward, Helen then secured the second buckle around the small portion of tail that poked out past the fins and admired her handiwork. The fake fin was slightly crude looking, but it would work as a prototype.  
Suddenly, the ground was ripped away from it solid placement beneath Helen. All of her weight was suddenly being supported by Toothless' tailfin and her prototype as she clung onto the Dragon's tail for dear life. As the flight pattern began to falter, Helen pulled the flailing prototype out into its extended position, mimicking the way that the real fin was positioned for flight. Toothless continued to fly, with Helen clinging, unnoticed, to his tail and positioned her fake fin the same way that he did the real one.

"It's working!" Helen yelled in excitement, causing Toothless to look back at her and realize how much danger she was in. He flew back down into the cove, over the lake, and with a quick flick of his tail, flung his not-quite-human friend into the deep water. He soon found, however, that he was now unable to fly due to Helen not being able to control the flimsy prosthetic tailfin. Crashing into the cold water of the lake, Toothless resurfaced and heard Helen cheering and laughing. His friend swam over to him to make sure he was alright.

**_*What was THAT?!*_**Toothless demanded, spitting water out of his mouth and shaking it out of his ears.

"In class yesterday, we learned that a Dragon can't fly unless it has balance. I remembered that you tail was…" Helen petered off, remembering that SHE had been the one to cause Toothless to lose his ability to fly, that SHE had taken it away from him. "I'm so sorry, Toothless…" The Dragon recognized the regret in her voice and, almost like he was reading her mind, knew why she was suddenly quiet. He nudged her chest gently with his nose, sending her floating back a few feet, and swam playful circles around her.

**_*Don't worry about it. I got to meet YOU, didn't I? Now tell me more about THIS thing…*_** He lifted the end of his tail out of the water and the two saw that the prosthetic fin had been severely damaged by the force of the Dragon hitting the water. **_*Oops…* _**Toothless chuckled lightly, hoping that Helen wasn't too mad about the thing being broken. She didn't seem to be, as she simply shrugged and went on to explain what it was.

"I tried to make the other half of your tail, so that you could fly again. That was just a prototype; I didn't expect it to last long anyways. Plus, I need to get accurate measurements and weights and whatnot so that the fake tailfin will work just as well as the real one." The two swam back to shore, where Toothless shook himself dry and Helen managed to start a small fire made of some gathered sticks and leaves.

**_*I could've made that for you, ya know."_**Toothless grumbled, curling up with Helen snugly secured by his front legs.

"No you couldn't have. You were just in the water; your fire won't work for a while."

**_*That only applies to SOME Dragons, like… how do the Vikings call them? Gronkles, I believe… Yes, and Zipplebacks and Terrors, and…Nadders? What do they call the other ones… Monstrous Nightmares?* _** An amused nod from Helen confirmed this. **_*Monstrous Nightmares, along with Night Furies such as myself, are able to start their fires even if they've gotten a little wet. Night Furies and Nightmares are even able to start their fires underwater.*_**He blew a little puff of flame out into the air just to prove it.

"Interesting…" Helen mumbled, watching as the violet and white flame disappeared into the night. "Why is that, do you know?" She asked, looking to Toothless for the answer.

**_*Nightmares, or, as we call them, Rock Eaters, can spit molten rock, as you probably know. This is what also powers their flame. Their internal temperatures are so high, that all they need to do is eat rocks to make more lava. It is possible for lava to stay molten under water, if only for a short amount of time.*_** Toothless glanced to Helen to make sure she was still listening, which she was, before continuing. **_*Because lava heats the natural gas that they make to create their flame, the flame is hot enough to work under water once they hit a certain maturity.*_**

"What about you Night Furies?" Helen placed a small hand on Toothless' chest, where he was the warmest. "Can you spit lava too?" Toothless chuckled slightly, thanking whatever gods were looking down on them at the moment that he couldn't blush at Helen's touch.

**_*No, I can't spit lava. My fire is super hot though, hotter than what the Vikings use to melt metal. I don't know why my fire is so hot, it may have to do with the fact that my scales are black, and so I soak in the heat from the sun better than the other Dragons.* _**He watched as Helen seemed to contemplate what he had said before she spoke.

"What holds the flammable gas in Dragons? It is their stomach or some other gland or…?

**_*There's a special gas sack thing that we have called the Fire Gland. In most dragons, the gas ignites on contact with air, obviously, the Zippleback, or Double Breather, has a different sort of deal going on. The gland is typically part of or linked to the stomach, because we need food in order to create the gas.*_**

"The Zippl- Double Breather… is able to produce a LOT of gas, but it's fairly weak and is used to set fire to large areas for a brief amount of time… not normally used to kill, but rather to distract…" Toothless tilted his head as Helen thought out loud. _*She sure knows a lot about Dragons and their attack methods… Do the other Vikings know this much?*I He then realized that Helen was a LOT smarter than other Vikings. _*_No, they're probably just as oblivious as always*_Helen continued talking to herself, "…So in order to produce a lot of gas, the Double Breather would have to have a fairly large Fire Gland, which would explain its large body…. Most of it is the Fire Gland… And that would also explain the two heads… That much gas being set on fire INSIDE the Dragon could cause some SEVERE internal damage… What if YOUR Fire Gland is smaller? You're able to produce a lot of fire over a short period of time, but you aren't as big as the other dragons."

**_*That still doesn't explain how my fire is so hot.*_**

"But it DOES!" Helen leapt to her feet and paced back and forth as she explained her thinking to Toothless. The Night Fury had never seen the girl get this excited in the short time that he had known her, and was highly amused by her antics. "The gas would be super pressurized if it was kept in a small amount of space, so it would already be hot because with pressure comes heat! The extreme heat of the gas would be SUPER HEATED once you set it on fire!"

**_*That's a pretty good explanation. Better than what I came up with*_**Helen tilted her head to the side.

"What did you come up with?"

**_*I'm just plain fabulous, so my fire gets to be better.*_**Toothless smiled at Helen's amusement with his answer, happy to have gotten her to laugh slightly. The girl sat back down in her place and poked at the fire with a stick for a while before asking the next thing that popped into her head.

"What do you call the other Dragons?"

**_*What do you mean?*_**

"Well you said that what we call Zipplebacks are called Double Breathers, and what we call Monstrous Nightmares are really called Rock Eaters. What are Gronkles supposed to be called? And Terrible Terrors? And Deadly Nadders?"

**_*We call the 'Gronkles' Lumps, because…well, they're kinda lump-ish… The 'Terrors' are called Fire Biters because that's really all they can do. They can manage a couple breaths of flame, and then they're out, so they just bite all the time. 'Nadders' are called Sky Gazers because their eyes are near the top of their heads.*_**

"And you?"

**_*Huh?*_**

"What do Dragons call Night Furies?"

**_*Well, there's really only one… I just went along with the whole 'Night Fury' thing…*_**

"I'm sorry… Where did the other Night Furies go?"

**_*You know that whole 'Lightning and Death' thing?*_**Toothless responded, knowing very well that she would probably have the whole story memorized.

"Yeah, what about it?"

**_*That's about what happened. There has always been only one Night Fury. The other Dragons weren't sure of what to call me when I showed up one stormy night, but no one could leave, so they just got used to me.*_**

"What do you mean, 'no one could leave'?" Helen turned, leaning against Toothless' curled hind legs and looking at him curiously.

**_*On our… island of sorts… we are ruled by a large Dragon that we call the Red Death. It ordered us to find food and feed it, using a form of mind-control to make sure that we did. That bump in the head from your net-thing got the Red Death to stop controlling me, but the others are still stuck. We couldn't leave, we could barely even think for ourselves.*_**

"But you never stole any food?" Helen asked curiously. It was true, the Night Fury was never seen, never stole any food, and never missed…

**_*True, but only because I hadn't been ordered to. My job was simply to distract the Vikings*_**Helen mulled this over in her head for a while, and then looked into Toothless' eyes with pure sincerity.

"Once I have built a durable prosthetic tailfin for you and learn how to control it and help you fly, then we will go back and free the other Dragons from the Red Death's mind control. I promise."

**_*Thanks.* _**Toothless nudged her face thankfully with his nose. He hadn't cared much for the other Dragons, but it wasn't right for them to be unable to think for themselves. He remembered how it felt, being ruled completely by some invisible force and not being able to be truly FREE. He had hated it, and he didn't want the others to have to continue to suffer.  
Helen yawned, sticking out her tongue as she did and surprising Toothless.

**_*You have a forked tongue!* _**He stuck out his own and wiggled the two ends to show her. Helen giggled and did the same with hers.

"Probably the…" She yawned again, "Dragon DNA…"

**_*Probably. Now go to sleep* _**Toothless said as he too yawned. He hadn't realized how tired he was, he was having too much fun talking to Helen.

"Okay. I don't have class in the morning, so I can go straight to the Forges after getting the measurements for the new fin in the morning." She lay down next to Toothless with her head on his front legs. "Goodnight, Toothless. Sleep well." She said before drifting off to sleep. Toothless smiled and lay his head down on the ground, watching as the flames of the fire flickered and dimmed slightly.

**_*Goodnight, Helen. Sleep well… I'll be here when you wake up…*_**He didn't know what had persuaded him to say it, but he had and Helen responded.

"Promise?"

**_*Promise.*_**


	11. Chapter 11 Nightmares & Pressure Points

_Fire. Fire was everywhere. Helen screamed. A Rock Eater growled, its skin covered in flame. There was smoke everywhere. He couldn't see Helen. Where was Helen?!_

**_*HELEN!*_** Toothless yelled, jolting awake and rolling over onto his feet, looking around in a panic. The scream from his nightmare echoed in his mind and the haze of the imagined smoke clouded his vision, making him panic even further. The cove was visible, but the images from the dream continued on in his mind, fading far too slowly. **_*HELEN!*_**He called again, searching the moonlit cove for the girl.

"Toothless!" The call had come from underneath him, finally breaking through the rest of the Dragon's sleep and making the images fade away. Looking down, the Night Fury saw than he had managed to not land on his tiny friend, as his feet had landed on either side of her small form. He brought his head down to Helen's body, sniffing frantically to make sure that she was alright. "Toothless, calm down!" The girl exclaimed, causing the dragon to discontinue his search and look into the almost-human's eyes.

**_*You're alright?*_** He asked her, still concerned, but slowly realizing that it was just a dream. **_*Oh gods, I had a horrid dream about you dying… I'm sorry for waking you up.*_**The dragon nudged the girl's face with his nose apologetically.

"It's fine… I was starting to wake up anyhow." The two beings suddenly realized how close they were. Toothless was still crouched over Helen, he had gotten his body as close to hers as it could be without crushing her in order to find out if she was hurt, and their faces were mere centimeters away. Their noses were almost touching, and the large reptile felt the urge to close the distance between them. _*No. I shouldn't be so foolish as to think that she would care for me*_ They stared into each other's eyes, both of their minds racing and neither wanting to move. '_He is the only creature that has ever paid any attention to me, cared for me and even worried about me… he is the only one to ever TRULY listen without that familiar disappointed scowl… I care about him greatly… But how much do I care? Have I gotten past the point of no return? He is a Dragon… and a Dragon could never care for a human… not in THAT way at least… So why does he continue to look at me like that?'_

_*She looks at me like that… as if I am her only friend in the world… as if I AM her world… I love that look… no one has ever looked at me like that before… no one has ever made me feel the way she does… She is the only one that has ever paid attention to me and expected nothing in return… I could hear the worry in her voice this morning… no one has ever worried about me before… She is the only one that has ever wanted to spend time with me… But she is a human...*_ Toothless breathed in, taking in the scent of the young woman beneath him. _*But she's not… I can smell the Dragon in her… but still… she could never feel the same way about me as I do about her…*_

Helen wanted so much to close the distance between them. To touch her nose to his and let him know how she felt. '_Who am I kidding? He would probably kill me! There's no way that he feels the same way. Why does he just stand there, though? So close, yet so far away… Giving me that look, the one that lets me know he truly cares… Does he care more than I think? No. Not possible…'_The Dragon continued to stare into her eyes, and she into his. Both thinking the same thing. Both wanting the same thing, but both too afraid to have it. Eventually their captivation was washed away by the sound of a fish in the lake jumping out of the water to snatch a bug out of the air. The two immediately looked to the sound, the moment shattering into a million pieces. The air was suddenly filled with a deafening silence, and Toothless quickly moved, allowing Helen to get up, which she did.

**_*So… uh… what's the plan for today?*_**The Dragon's legs would have been quivering with nervousness if he hadn't already laid down in his original sleeping spot. The moon was still high in the air, and the night Fury was surprised at how little time had passed. What had felt like hours were only a couple of minutes in reality.

"I was planning on taking the measurements for your tail and then going to the village to make a new, better one. It's a bit… early… for me to go though, seeing as how it's still night time…" Helen glanced up and the moon briefly, but mainly kept her gaze down at her hands until she suddenly looked up at Toothless. "What was your dream about anyways? It might help if you talk about it, at least… it seems to work for me…"

*It was a nightmare. You were screaming. It was…*

The Dragon shuddered. And Helen slowly crawled over to him, petting his head reassuringly and listening to what he said. **_*There was a Rock Eater, and… I don't know what happened, but you were screaming and there was fire and smoke and I couldn't find you…*_**Toothless didn't care if he sounded like he cared at this point. He DID care, and he had been truly scared, almost as scared as when he had though he was going to die. The small girl petted him and scratched behind his ears, making him purr.

"It was only a dream, Toothless… you see? I'm fine, and so are you. There are no Rock Eaters and no smoke… Everything is going to be okay." She smiled at him and continued to scratch behind his ears, satisfied that he was happy now.

**_*Mmhm… How do you plan on getting the accurate weight of my tailfin?*_** The happy Dragon purred, trying to keep the girl talking. Her voice soothed him. He didn't care what she was talking about, as long as she was talking, then he knew she was safe. They stayed that way for a while, with the small human rambling on about possible ways to measure the Dragon's tailfin, and said Dragon blissfully ignoring her words; because as long as she continued scratching under his chin and behind his ears, he was happy. Suddenly thinking of a wonderful idea, Toothless opened his eyes slightly, smirking to himself before leaping to tackle his friend to the ground. The Dragon was more than a little surprised when he landed on nothing more than sand and Helen used his back as a platform, doing a back-handspring over him and twisting to dive into the dark blue water of the lake. The moons cast their faint reflections in the water, disappearing as the suns rose slowly and cast their pink morning light over the top of the tree-lined cove. Diving happily into the water after his friend, Toothless swam down to the bottom of the lake where he and the strange girl chased each other in playful circles around a large rock column, able to stay underwater without resurfacing thanks to their almost identical lungs that held large amounts of air, and bodies that needed far less oxygen than a human. As the suns rose further into the sky, the lake was illuminated even further and the two resurfaced, trudging to the shore and to the abandoned fire, where Helen gathered more stray sticks to rebuild it. Toothless lit the fire with a small burst of flame and his friend changed her clothes behind a rock, letting the wet ones that she had worn in the lake dry by the fire after she was fully clothed in the clothes that she kept in the Cove for the purposes of her staying the night.

"I'd better head to the village soon if I'm going to get there in time to do everything I'd like to today, so if you're alright with it, I'm going to take the necessary measurements." Toothless smiles and moved his tail in front of Helen, who quickly pulled a straight wooden rod out of her satchel. Beginning at the part of the fin that was attached to the rest of the tail, she worked her way out to the end, taking all necessary measurements and probably more unnecessary ones by counting how many lengths of the rod would fit over a certain area and jotting down numbers and symbols in her sketchbook. She then did something quite peculiar; she took several stones out of her satchel and gathered even more from along the shore of the lake. Attaching what was left of the prototype tailfin, Helen asked Toothless if his tail felt balanced.

**_*The prototype is a bit light…*_**Toothless answered, amused. The girl added the stones one at a time, removing some and adding smaller ones when the prototype became heavier than the real fin. In the end, Helen had three stones and the broken prototype packed safely into her satchel.

"Okay, I'll be back." She told the Dragon once she was satisfied with her data. "Probably not tonight, but after class tomorrow I'll come here with a big basket of fish for you."

**_*Okay. Have fun. Don't fall in the forge fires.*_** With a chuckle and a promise to be safe, Helen scratched behind his ears for a minute, trailing down onto his neck and hitting the spot where the base of the Dragon's head met his neck, causing the Night Fury to instantly fall asleep. Helen freaked out. After about five minutes, however, Toothless came to.

"Are you alright?" The concerned girl asked her still-sleepy friend.

**_*Yeah. You just hit a bundle of nerves, that's all. All dragons have it. I'll tell you more about it when you get back. Have fun!*_**He smiled at her and lay his head down on his forelegs, closing his eyes once more, listening to the brief chuckle of Helen and her quiet footsteps as she walked across the sand and out of the Cove.

Line Break

The first thing that Helen needed to do was find the weight of the prototype fin and the stones in accurate measurements. Using the measurement scales in the forge, she found that Toothless' tailfin weighed exactly three and a half pounds, which certainly made her job easier. Melting down old and dull swords, Helen used her measurements to build the frame, weighing it every time she added another piece in order to make sure that she was staying within her limit. The skeleton of the false fin was hinged neatly so that it could open and close with very little force. The young misfit was testing the movement ability of her contraption just as Gobber walked into the forges.

**"End just whut do ya thenk yer doin heare?"**The man bellowed, surprising his apprentice, who quickly snapped her contraption into its folded position and spun around to face him.

"I… I- I got an idea for an invention!" Helen stuttered nervously, hiding the fin's frame behind her back and out of sight.

**"Uh-huh." **Gobber clearly wasn't buying it. **"End whuts dat behind yer back?"**

"It's part of the contraption."

**"Let me see then."**

"No, it's a surprise!" Helen blurted. "I was trying to figure out how to make you a better… hammer…"

**"Weth somthin' dat opens end closes?"**Gobber looked at her, clearly confused.

"Yeah… It's just an idea…" Gobber eyes her suspiciously, but seemed satisfied and grabbed his sword before leaving. On days when he wasn't training recruits, Gobber was either fixing broken weapons or hunting. It seemed as though today was a hunting day. Once he was out of sight, Helen pulled the contraption from behind her back and checked it for any damage. Thoroughly satisfied with the lasting perfection of the frame, she began to fit tough leather to the metal pieces, as well as several strong yet thin metal wires that connected and were strengthened by leather that were attached to the 'control rib', as she liked to call it. The 'control rib' was the strong outer metal rod that would open and close all of the other rods individually if tugged on right. Each metal wire was connected to a different part of the rod than controlled a different piece of the inner frame. She would need to know how to position the fin properly for each method of flight that Toothless had before working any further on it. Sewing the bits together tightly and strengthening the seams with wax, Helen weighed her final product. At first glance, the scales looked even. But she wanted to be thorough and make sure that she got EVERYTHING right, so she took a closer look. The fake fin was just three grams too light.

"Well fuck." Helen stated, contemplating what could possibly weigh only three grams and could go on the fin. The leather had already been proofed to be water resistant, so it didn't need that… Looking over to her workbench, the she got a perfect idea. Opening the seam of a small portion of leather that ran along the metal bar that made the inner support to be attached to Toothless' inner tail, she poured in the finely ground up scales that she had found the first day that she had seen Toothless in the Cove, along with a few drops of water to plaster the dust into place. After re-sewing the seam, Helen weighed the fake fin again. Exactly three and a half pounds. Perfect. Nightfall had come and gone and durned into sunrise while she had worked, and as the first rays of dawn entered the windows of the Forges, Helen was already at home, storing the fake fin carefully into a basket that was promptly filled with blankets and tucked under her still mattress-less bedframe. She ran to the Training Ring, where she once again sat on her rock and drew in her sketchbook. She drew Toothless on the rock ledge, climbing down like he had when she had first brought him fish. She drew Toothless sleeping in the cave the way he was that one morning that she had had to leave early. She drew her father, glaring at her in disappointment as always. The other teenagers soon arrived and failed to notice the fact the Helen was in the Ring with them.

"I hear we're workin' with a Nadder today." Tuffnut said, wiping his sleeve across his nose and huffing at the cold air, causing a puff of fog to appear before him.

"Whaddaya guys bet that Helen dies today?" Snotlout joked, high-fiving the twins who had responded with enthusiastic 'yeah!'s.

"Uhh… guys…" Fishlegs piped in nervously from the entrance to the Ring. The group spun around and glared at him.

"WHAT?" Ruffnut demanded, to which Fishlegs took a step back and pointed to the rock on which Helen sat, watching the group and smiling in amusement. Tuffnut's face got bright red, and Ruffnut let out a small yelp of surprise.

"How long have you been sitting there?" She demanded in a threatening manner.

"Since sunrise."

**"Stop doddling, you useless bunch! We have training to do!" **Gobber's loud voice cut off any conversation that might have been about to take place as the axe-wielding man entered the Ring. Several other large Vikings dragged in a dozen tall wooden walls and set them up in a maze-like pattern before leaving just as fast as they had come. Gobber opened one of the Dragon cages before stepping out of the Ring and closing the heavy entrance gate, taking his place on the upper levels where he watched and hollered instructions to the scrambling teens with a bored expression.

**"The Deadly Nadder is quick and light on its feet."** He informed the Vikings-in-training, who were trying to get through the maze and to their weapons while they were chased by the colorful Dragon. **"Your job is to be quicker and lighter. Every Dragon has a blind spot. Find it, and use it."**The group quickly found out where the blind spot was, thanks to the twins, and stayed low to the ground.

"I'm really beginning to question your teaching methods!" Fishlegs yelled as he and Helen ran away from the Nadder as it flung its tail-spikes at them. Helen felt a sharp pain in her shoulder as she bumped into one of the walls, but passed it off as a splinter and flung herself onto the ground as the Nadder rounded the corner, walking on its two legs through the passage that Helen and Fishlegs currently occupied. The smaller Viking put her index finger to her lips, signaling for Fishlegs to remain quiet. The boy nodded, showing that he understood, and the two crawled slowly to the next bend in the maze, their bellies dragging along the smooth ground and making hardly any noise. The Nadder suddenly stopped, sniffing the air before screeching and lunging at the two teens on the ground. Fishlegs was further away, and leapt to his feet, running around the bend and to safety. Helen was not as lucky. She had looked back when the Dragon had screeched and instinctively rolled onto her back, putting her hands in the air to try and block the attack. The Nadder landed with its legs on either side of Helen, who, upon seeing Astrid running full-force towards the Dragon, battle-axe in hand and with intent to kill, stood and quickly scratched at the colorful creature's scales briefly before pressing on the bundle of nerves and causing the Dragon to slump against one of the walls, knocking it, and all of the others, down. Snoring loudly, the Nadder lay still, unconscious, as it would stay for the next five minutes or so. Astrid stopped and stared at Helen in shock as the walls around them toppled. The other teens soon saw Astrid staring at Helen, who was standing next to an unconscious Nadder and they stared as well.

"So… Uhm… Later? 'Kay, bye." Helen hurried out of the now open entrance to the Rings, where Gobber stared and did nothing as she brushed past him, exiting in time to hear him say that there would be no Re-Cap, and running to the forges. She spent the next three hours making a saddle that would hopefully fit on Toothless' back, as well as a harness to help keep it on. Once the saddle was complete, Helen ran to her house, packing her two changes of clothes and some material to make one more into her satchel, as well as the fake fin, strapping the saddle to her back and heading out once more. As she closed the door to her house, Helen realized that she hadn't spent a single night in her own home since befriending Toothless. _'Can't have that happening once dad gets home… he'll definitely notice… maybe…'_She ran down to the docks and grabbed a basket of fish, sneaking away quietly and making sure that no one saw. It was lunch time and everyone was in the Great Hall, but you could never be too careful when sneaking off to see your Dragon friend. She ran into the woods, sprinting the entire way to the Cove, rolling the latched basket of fish, satchel, and saddle under the shield.

Toothless watched the items roll under the shield and down the small slope until they came to a stop. Helen soon followed, deciding to roll under the shield and come to a gradual stop much like the things had. She giggled once she had stopped and stood up dizzily, stumbling around for a bit until she had regained her senses and amusing Toothless more than a little.

"I brought fish!" She exclaimed, carrying the basket over to her friend and undoing the top, letting the fish spill out for Toothless to feast upon.


	12. Chapter 12 Repairs

Toothless happily ate the fish provided, and Helen attached the new fin to his tail while he was distracted. After the tail was snuggly in place, she sat on the ground nearby and drew a picture of Toothless eating. Once the dragon was done, the girl put away her sketchbook and grabbed the saddle, presenting it to her friend.

"I made a saddle so that I can stay on better while helping you fly!" She announced happily. "Come on; let me put it on you so that we can go flying!"

**_*Alright…*_** Toothless said, smirking mischievously. **_*But first… you have to catch me…*_** With that, he leapt back a few feet from Helen. She smiled back and chased after him as he made her run circles around. He knew that she wasn't really trying, and that once she did, she'd catch him easily. Sure enough, the Night Fury tuned his head to look back at the girl chasing him and found that no one was there. Looking ahead of himself, Toothless saw his mysterious friend in a crouched position, as if she had just landed. She leapt up and landed on his back, not knowing that he had planned for this. He rolled over, knocking her off, and then rolled back to his starting spot, pinning his friend and biting the arm that had the saddle lightly, with his teeth retracted so as to not hurt her.

**_*Say 'mercy'*_** He ordered around the arm, making Helen smile. Her eyes narrowed in determination and she reached up with her free arm, grabbing Toothless' shoulder and using it to flip him over. She knelt over the dragon, her legs on either side of his neck. The top of her body was forced to lean forward because her arm, while still holding the saddle, was also still in her friend's mouth. The soft skin of her cheek was pressed up against the rough scales that covered the dragon's.  
Toothless froze, time seeming to slow down as Helen leaned forward and spoke, her voice filled with determination.

"Never." The dragon's jaw slackened as a chill went down his back. He let go of her arm and rolled over, pausing a moment as he hovered over her. _*what if that was her way of showing that she cared for me as more than a friend… I've seen Vikings try to dominate each other to show affection… but then again, we WERE rough housing and she could have just been trying to get me to submit to her putting on the saddle… Gods, why does this have to be so complicated?! I know I have emotions for Helen, and I know that they are emotions of love, but WHY?! She's a HUMAN, I shouldn't feel this way! I'm not even supposed to feel this way about other dragons! Love between Dragons is NEVER between two separate species, it doesn't work! So why is this happening?*_ He backed up and allowed Helen to put the saddle on him. She hesitated before buckling the clasp, noticing his silence.

"Are you sure you're okay with the saddle? If you feel degraded by it, then we don't have to use it, I can figure out another way to help you fly…" The dragon snapped himself out of his thoughts and shook his head, lowering it so that Helen could get a better idea of where to put the saddle.

**_*No, the saddle's fine… I just can't get used to the fact that you're stronger than you look.*_** Helen blushed and smiled lightly, looking down at the ground in embarrassment.

"Sorry about that… Are you okay?" Toothless chuckled quietly before responding.

**_*Yeah, I'm fine.*_**

"What's so funny?" Helen demanded playfully.

**_*You look cute when you're embarrassed*_** Toothless quickly added to his statement to make it less awkward. **_*I mean that in a friend kind of way… Let's uh… get that saddle on and do a test flight…*_** He looked up and realized that it was getting dark. Perfect for flying. Helen saluted him, giggling quietly as she moved to tighten the clasp around Toothless' neck so that the saddle wouldn't move, but the clasp wouldn't hinder Toothless' breathing. After attaching the saddle, Helen strung the connection rod through a loop in the saddle and connected it to the prosthetic fin.

"Alright, let's see if this guy works…" She tied a string to the rod to help her move it and position the fin before gently climbing onto the saddle. Tugging on the string to test it out, Helen looked back. Upon seeing the fin opened and ready for action, she nodded to the dragon below her and they were off. Toothless pulled them into the air by beating his powerful wings, and soon the cove was a mere speck below them. The Night Fury was finally back in his element, and it was amazing. The wind was brushing lightly against his scales, and the smell of the higher atmosphere mingled with the scent of Helen, making adrenaline flow through his veins. He was finally able to show Helen what his world was like, and he couldn't wait to show her how amazing flying was. The girl on his back gasped in amazement. She was seeing Berk like no other Viking had ever seen it before. It looked so small and peaceful, so fragile as the rocky shores were pounded by the furious ocean, as if the frothy waters were trying to reclaim their lost territory. A seagull flew nearby and squawked in surprise at the sight of a human riding a Dragon, flying away quickly to tell the other gulls of the oddity it had just witnessed. The clouds swirled around the strange pair as they glided through the air, the thin air breezing past lightly and ruffling Helen's hair. The suns began to set, painting the sky around them with brilliant shades of pink, red, and purple that soon faded to a deep blue and finally into the familiar black of night, lit by the cool light of the full moon above.

"Okay, Toothless, let's see if we can figure this out…" Helen tugged gently on the string in her hand, opening the tailfin wider and causing Toothless to go even higher into the air. Another gasp rang out through the silence of the night as the ground disappeared and was replaced by the unfamiliar fluffiness of the tops of clouds, stained a dark blue color from the darkness of the night sky. The moon seemed to pulse with light and energy as the two figures drifted through the night in silence; both exhilarated to be in the air, away from the noise of the mortal world and into the beauty of the world belonging to the gods. Too soon, though, the suns began to rise once more to paint the sky with the bright colors of the day. Toothless banked to the right, so that Helen didn't have to use the prosthetic tail to turn, and they soared quickly through the air, the wind screeching past them as they approached the cove. They slowed to a comfortable glide, and it came time for the tricky part: Landing.

**_*Okay, nice and easy Helen, we need to close the tailfin just enough to land…*_**

"Okay… here goes nothing.." Helen murmured, tugging up on the string to close the fin. The fin closed, but quite a bit faster than either of the two flyers were expecting, and quite a bit more than what was desired. Toothless suddenly found himself rider-less and falling at an odd angle towards the lake, while Helen flew off in the opposite direction. The dragon crash-landed into the water, which was a much softer landing than his companion's, as she had slammed quite ungraciously into the rock wall of the cove and fallen the remaining twenty feet to the ground. As soon as the night fury resurfaced, he began looking for his friend, finding her lying face-down in the sand and running to her with a screech of panic.

**_*HELEN!*_** He nudged the lifeless body with his nose, turning the girl over. A small groan escaped her lips as she sat up, a nice gash on her forehead oozing slightly and a large ring of blood slowly growing on her right shoulder. Toothless licked the blood off of the girl's forehead happily, but with concern. *Don't do that! You could have died! Are you alright?* Helen smirked and pushed the dragon away playfully.

"Hey, I got us to land, didn't I?" She stood and winced, looking down at her shoulder where the fabric of her shirt was stained with blood and pulling the fabric back to reveal an ugly gash that looked far too deep to have been caused by her hitting the cliff.

**_*Where the hell did you get THAT?!*_** Toothless screeched in alarm, sniffing the wound to make sure it wasn't infected. It looked as if it had been reopened by Helen hitting the cliff, rather than caused by the cliff.

"Must've happened earlier during class." The girl shrugged, wincing again as the scabbed portion of the gash split, allowing more blood to flow out.

**_*How on earth did you get THAT in a COOKING class?!*_**

"Cooking class?"

**_*Yeah, the class that you go to every day. The cooking class!*_**

"I never said anything about a cooking class…" Helen tilted her head, confused.

**_*Well… YEAH… I just sorta assumed that you were in one and… Nevermind that!*_** The dragon snapped impatiently. **_*If it's not a cooking class, then what is it, and how did you get that injury?*_** Helen looked down as her feet nervously.

"I'm in a… Viking training class… where they teach us how to fight dragons… we went up against a Sky Gazer today, and I guess I got hit…" Toothless stared at the small figure in front of him and imagined her trying to fight a dragon. The image was terrifying. She may be strong, but she was inexperienced, and there was no way she could beat a full-grown, well-adapted dragon.

**_*HELEN! Do you have ANY idea how dangerous that is?!*_**

"About as dangerous as trusting a Night Fury."

Toothless froze. She had a point. It had been foolish of her to trust him, but it had turned out alright in the end, hadn't it? She had trusted him with her life, now it was his turn to trust her to be able to stay alive without his help. "Look, Toothless… I'm sorry… I shouldn't have said that…"

**_*No, you're right. I'll accept that you're learning to fight dragons, because I know that you wouldn't hurt your own kind; but now we need to figure out how to keep you on this saddle.*_** Helen scratched the top of his head affectionately, and examined the saddle.

"It looks like everything it still intact… but I'm going to modify the saddle with some hooks, plus add a harness to keep me in." She unhooked the saddle and connection rod, setting them on the sand next to her so that she could use both hands to scratch Toothless' scales.

"You know, if you wanted, I could quit the class… if you really don't like me fighting dragons." The dragon purred contentedly, only half hearing what Helen was saying.

**_*No, go ahead with your Viking class… just don't get hurt.*_** Helen chuckled, stepping away from the now sleeping dragon and gathering the saddle and connection rod. After a nice sprint through the woods, the girl arrived at the village and was soon at the forges and hammering away at metal bits.


	13. Chapter 13 Gobber Suspects

Helen wanted a way to control the movement of the fin better than simply tugging on a string, so she began to make a pedal of sorts that would be attached the the saddle and would move the fin through the connection rod. Focusing on the small metal pieces that she was hammering away at in front of her, Helen didn't notice the large shadow being cast over her work area until it was too late. A large hand grabbed her by the shoulder and spun her around roughly, causing her to drop the piece of the pedal that she was currently working on. The metal pieces hit the ground, a few landing awkwardly and snapping in half. Helen looked up into the shadowed face of the viking before her.

**"What are YOU up to, young lady?"** The man asked loudly, picking up a candle and holding it in front of Helen to get a better look at her. She had a bruise on the side of her face from hitting the cliff, and a small tear in her tunic but otherwise looked perfectly normal.

"Gobber! You scared the crap out of me! What are you doing here?" Helen glanced outside, where a thick blanket of snow had settled on the uneven ground, making the treacherous terrain look like a smooth plateau of fluffy white. The snow continued to fall in thick chunks that resembled tufts of wool floating through the air in the spring when the sheep were shaved and the Festival of Ostara was held. A strong breeze blew into the Forges, sending a cold shiver through Helen's body.

**"I came to tell you that Training is can canceled today because of the snow."** The burly man set Helen down only to pick up a portion of the pedal and examine it. **"What are YOU doing here? This doesn't look like a weapon... What exactly have you been up to in here?"**

"I-I'm making weapons... This is just the beginning of a very complicated item, so if you would.." Helen attempted to grab the bit of metal away from her godfather, who merely lifted his arm slightly higher to put the item out of the girl's reach.

**"And where's that hammer that you were talking about a while ago? The one with the built in fan or somethin?"** He didn't give Helen a chance to answer, instead stepping forward and trapping her into a corner. **"You've been acting strange lately, Helen. Making parts for 'weapons' and never showing me any actual weapon; you're getting better in the Ring at a rapid pace. UNBELIEVABLE rapid, and by that I mean I don't believe that you're doing it on your own. Are you..."** He looked hurt for a moment. **"Are you TRAINING with someone? Who is it? You know that if you needed help you could've asked me... Is that what you're doing? Making weapons for people in return for training?"**

"No! Gobber, I've just been making and testing new weapons, but they either don't work or they break or get lost... I'd show you them if they actually turned out right, you know I would!" Helen looked up at her godfather and touched his arm gently. "I've just been observing the other viking kids, is all.. I'm not training with anyone... If I needed help then you would be the first to know." Gobber didn't seem convinced, but he grudgingly gave the piece of metal back to the small girl, turning at the sound of footsteps trudging through the snow. Fishlegs noticed his teacher and the small viking seeming to have a conversation and began backing out into the snow once more, raising his hands apologetically.

"Sorry! Didn't mean to interrupt!"

**"You're fine, Fishlegs. What do you want?" **Gobber pinched the bridge of his nose and for the first time, Helen realized just how old he was.

"A-are we going to have training today?" Fishlegs asked nervously, already prepared to leave as quickly as possible.

**"No, Fishlegs. The door to the ring is blocked by snow, there is no training today."** Gobber sighed to the large boy. The boy then nodded thankfully and ran out into the snow, tripping and landing face-first in a deep drift only to yell out that he was okay before jumping up and continuing to run towards his house. Chuckling to himself, Gobber turned to continue his talk with Helen only to find the girl gone, along with her tool kit, pieces of whatever she was working on, and sketchbook. The large man ran over to the only place where she could have gone without him noticing and looked down into the snow to see where she had gone, and got the shock of his life. There were no footprints in the snow.

Helen watched from her perch on the roof of the forges as Gobber ran out the door looking around in confusion. She giggled to herself before jumping onto the roof of a nearby house, landing softly without a sound and slipping down into the deep snow. She chuckled and turned, running over to the docks to grab a barrel of fish for Toothless.

Gobber saw the movement out of the corner of his eye and stared in amazement as Helen ran to the docks and picked up a large barrel of fish. There was no way that a girl her size was going to eat ALL that fish! She could hardly eat ONE fish without getting too full! He watched her sling the barrel over her shoulder and run towards the forest. Curiosity got the better of him, and Gobber followed. He hid behind thick trees and snow covered rocks while watching his apprentice run through the white woodland. Something seemed to catch her eye, and she stopped, dropping the barrel and setting her things next to it before walking over to a small bump in the snow. She brushed off the snow and found a silvery something. Gobber gasped when Helen pulled it up to reveal an armored viking leg, bloodied at the middle of its thigh where the leg ended and turned to a bloody stump with a portion of bone sticking out. The girl screamed and fell back, dropping the leg and scooting away from it as if it were going to drag her down into the underworld.  
A roar sounded in the distance, as if in response to Helen's scream. The roar sounded horrid, and unlike anything Gobber had ever heard from a dragon before. Silence surrounded the forest like a thick fog. Everything seemed to have stopped moving, even the wind. Slowly, the small viking girl crawled back over to the leg and began removing the armor. The roar sounded again, seeming almost... panicked in tone.  
Gobber watched as Helen quickly removed the remaining armor and carried it with her back to her things. She picked up the barrel once more and gathered the remaining items in her arms and glancing around suspiciously, seeming to smell the air around her just to be sure, and took off running at a pace that Gobber found unbelievable and impossible to match. The winded old viking sat on a rock to catch his breath as Helen disappeared over a small rock and the horrid roar sounded again.

**"I certainly hope she knows what she's doing..."** Gobber muttered to himself, walking back to the village. He needed to speak with Gothi, the village Healer.


	14. Chapter 14 Attachments

Response to the questions in the reviews:

CrystalMoonMagic: Yes, you will eventually. It went in the ring, remember? XD

I.C.2014: It was just a leg. No one specific belonged to it. How would Gobber find out about Hiccup? Hiccup isn't in this story?

Also, thank you to everyone that is reviewing, it is greatly appreciated. But if you could do a quick double-check of your review and make sure that it is readable by a human and is in proper English, that would be great. Also, it would help if you READ the WHOLE story before responding, or at least the description, that would also be nice.

Most of you are fairly good with this though, so please don't be offended by this if you know that you are reviewing with questions and comments that make sense.

Helen ran into the cove and over to Toothless, who was roaring in wordless panic and clawing desperately at the walls of the cove, making the snow beneath him black with dirt and stone. Intense panic clouded the dragon's vision as his pupils constricted and narrowed his line of sight; his sound transceivers were flattened down against his head and his body went into it's defensive mode, quickly turning the contents of his stomach into flammable gas and pure energy. Helen ran to her dragon, yelling his name until he turned and saw her.

**_*Helen!*_** Toothless roared happily, taking two swift leaps to make it to his friend before tackling her to the ground, licking her face happily and nuzzling her head with his own. The girl giggled from beneath him, hugging his neck as best she could and sighing contentedly. The dragon pulled away after a priceless moment and stared down at his smiling friend with eyes narrowed in a mixture of anger and determination.

**_*What happened?*_** He demanded in a low growl, leaning closer to the girl once more in order to sniff out any possible injuries.

"Nothing." Helen replied innocently, giggling once more when Toothless' hot breath grazed against her neck, tickling the exposed flesh.

**_*Bullshit. You screamed. What. Happened?*_** The dragon lifted his head once more, now done with his inspection.

"I just found a...dead...thing... In the woods... It startled me." Helen smiled again, showing that she was alright now, and shivered, causing a fair amount of snow to get into her tunic. She yelped in surprise and sat up, startling the concerned dragon and almost bumping noses with him.

**_*What's wrong?*_** He asked, once more ready to attack whatever had caused her to yelp.

"Snow. It's cold. And in my shirt." Helen responded, folding her arms and smirking playfully at Toothless. "You really need to lighten up, you know that? I'm not a glass doll."

**_*That may be so, but I can still worry about you. Damn snow...*_** The Night Fury glared in mock anger at the offending frozen powder that covered the ground in a two-foot-deep layer of fluffy ice. He slapped at it with his tail, sending a good-sized mound of it flying through the air, where it settled a few feet away. Helen laughed at his actions, so he continued; swatting at the snow and yelling at it further.

**_*How DARE you make Helen cold! What do you think you are? ICE?! Well take THAT!*_** With one final swipe, Toothless accidentally sent a hoard of snow flying at Helen, coating her in quickly melting powder. **_*Oh shit. I'm sorry Helen!*_** The dragon ran over to his friend to make sure that she was okay.

"It's fine Toothless..." The girl grinned and bent over, picking up a large handful of snow. "As long as you forgive me for THIS!" She put emphasis on the last word as she chucked the snow ball at the black dragon, hitting him square on the nose, the white splatter design contrasting greatly with his dark scales. The dragon laughed and raised his tail.

**_*Alright. I see how it is...*_** He swiped down, sending more snow flying Helen's way, laughing as it flew through the air, only to be hit by another snow ball. **_*Why you-*_** He was silenced when another snow ball hit him leg. **_*That's it. THIS MEANS WAR!*_** He yelled playfully, scooping up snow in his tailfin and using it as a catapult to chuck the icy powder at Helen, and using his wings as a cover.  
Helen built a snow fort that was quickly blasted down by Toothless, who was then hit by several snow balls in return. The two continued their snow ball fight, both yelling playful war banter at the other, until the suns were at their highest point in the sky and they collapsed into the snow against each other, laughing at the fun that they had had.

"Truce?" Helen asked, smiling at the exhausted Night Fury.

**_*Hmm...*_** He thought playfully before dumping a small heap of snow over the girl's head. **_*Truce.*_** he said simply, chuckling at the girl's startled expression. **_*Come on, let's go to bed. I'm tired.*_** The Night Fury yawned, as if to prove his point, sticking out his tongue as he did so. He got up and began walking to the cave.

"Maybe in a bit," Helen responded, "I've gotta finish working on something."

**_*Alright...*_** Toothless sounded slightly concerned, but let it pass and walked through the remaining snow to the cave, where he heated the ground with his fire and lay down, quickly falling asleep on the burning embers.  
Helen gathered a large stack of wood and used a convenient crack in a boulder as a bellows, lighting the wood with a flint and a handful of dry moss. She heated the metal armor that she had taken off of the leg, as well as some that she had managed to take from the forges, bending, cutting, and shaping it once it was hot enough. She used the icy water of the lake to cool the red-hot metal once she was done shaping it, and soon the small girl had finished with her project. Helen looked up at the sky and watched as the suns began to set, swooping below the ridge of the cove's walls and allowing the world to succumb to darkness once more. The snow had stopped, leaving the woods covered in a thick shroud of white, already being blemished by the footprints of the nocturnal creatures that wandered about. She felt the hot breath of her dragon as he sat behind her and watched the sky as it grew darker and darker, until the sky was covered in a thick blanket of darkness pinpricked with thousands of stars. The waxing moon shone brightly, lighting Helen's path as she attached the harness and foot pedal to Toothless. The girl mounted, sitting in the saddle and clutching a thick rope in her hand.

**_*What's the rope for?*_** The dragon asked curiously, turning his head slightly and gazing back at his friend.

"If I'm going to help you fly, then I'm going to need to know how to position your tailfin." Helen responded, gently patting Toothless' neck and leaning over to point to a large cliff that wasn't too far away. "That ledge has really strong wind, so it should be just what we need in order to simulate an actual flight." Leaning back and shifting the gears in the foot pedal until the tailfin was at the necessary position, the girl and her dragon took to the air. With a few beats of his wing, Toothless was able to land awkwardly on the cliff. A thick tree stood near the ledge, dying with an illness that laced the once brown wood, turning it black and gray. The branches that had once been thick and sturdy and covered in healthy green needles were now cracked and bare, the only remaining needles having been turned a dead shade of brown. With a single swipe of a powerful tail, the tree fell down to the unyielding rocks below, creaking and snapping with each ledge that it hit until it finally stuck, wedged into a crevice near the base of the cliff. The wind roared in approval, finally able to show its strength now that the persistent tree was out of the way.  
Helen quickly tied one end of the rope to the trunk that was left as evidence that there had once been a tree in its place, and secured the other end to Toothless' harness. She mounted once more and patted the dragon in reasurance.

"Okay, let's get this party started."

**_*Party? Do I have to wear one of those weird things on my head?*_**

"No, it's a figure of speech."

**_*Oh. Okay. Good, I don't like those things.*_** And with that they were airborne. Helen jotted down the different tail positions on a piece of parchment that was secured to the saddle with a metal clamp. Once she had written down all of the positions, they practiced until she had the hang of it. A sudden gust of wind put a damper on the girls recent confidence boost as the sound of the rope snapping echoed around them and the two tumbled through the air before crashing into a tree.  
Toothless shook his head, clearing it of the dizziness that the tumble had caused, and stood, bringing a very surprised Helen with him. Her harness was holding her up, and the clamps had folded onto themselves, causing the girl to be unable to actually dismount.

**_*My, my, Helen...*_** The dragon purred lowly, quite amused by the whole situation. **_*First the rope and now this... you're getting quite... ATTACHED... aren't you?*_** He chuckled at his friend's flustered expression.

"Ha. Ha."

**_*Must be my MAGNETIC personality.*_**

"You're not funny."

**_*I thought it was amusing.*_**

"Whatever. Hold still." Helen scrambled into the saddle once more with very little difficulty, and checked the foot pedal. It didn't seem to be damaged, which was a relief. "Okay, let's get back to the cove." A quick check of the position chart and a quiet click later, they were airborne once more, this time without a rope restraining them. Once back in the cove, Helen attempted to grab her tool bag. Toothless, however, had other plans. The dragon walked over to the lake, dragging his rider behind him, and took a drink of water.

"Toothless!" the girl protested, grabbing the saddle to give the harness some slack.

**_*Hmm?*_** The amused Night Fury glanced back at his friend, smirking in amusement.

"Nothing. Carry on." Helen pulled herself onto the saddle and took off the harness before sliding off of the saddle and landing in a crouch. She removed the saddle and attachments before trudging over to her tool bag and pulled out a thick piece of metal that could be used as a wedge. She began working the clasp open with her wedge, dully aware that Toothless had wandered over to her and curled his body into a warm barrier between his friend and the cold weather around.  
He watched with slight interest as Helen worked, closing his eyes and falling asleep as the suns came up.


	15. Chapter 15 Relations

Once Helen had separated the harness from the saddle, she returned to the village. The snow was rapidly melting, turning the once crisp and beautifully white ground into a mess of icy mud and clumped grass. The filth from the ground was sloshed up by the movement of Vikings going about their daily business, the mud splashing up onto the sides of houses and stationary objects, as well as onto the boots and pants of anyone walking about. Later that night the ground would most likely be turned into a blemished sheet of ice, making the journey to and from places during night hours treacherous. A few dragons flew aimlessly through the sky in the distance, making several Vikings anxious as the winged serpents began to circle the islands, swooping close occasionally, only to be frightened back once more by a shot of a catapult in their direction. There would be a raid tonight, that much was certain, and the tension in the air was thicker than the fog that shifted through the air. The Vikings that were in charge of raid preparations were shifting the mud around so that the ground was uneven, and would hopefully provide some form of traction once it froze over. Helen made her way quietly through the town, the larger Vikings occasionally shoving her roughly out of their way, until she had made it to the ring where the other students were waiting.

"Oh look. Useless decided to show up." Ruffnut sneered, flipping one of her braided pigtails over her shoulder and narrowing her eyes at Helen.

"Yeah. Just thought I'd give the whole 'being eaten alive by a dragon' thing another go." Helen muttered as Gobber walked into the ring, slamming down a large crate full of dangerous looking weapons. He glanced at Helen, looking conflicted about something, but quickly looked away, turning instead to face the other teens.

**"Alright, who's ready to have another go at that Gronkle?"** he asked cheerfully, tossing Helen a large sword and pulling down the lever to release the Gronkle. The teens quickly scattered, a move that could both help or hinder them, depending on how the dragon decided to act. Two shots took out Ruffnut and Snotlout, and Astrid quickly moved in for the kill. She yelled in anger as she charged the dragon, alerting it to the fact that she was attacking, and a single shot knocked her onto her backside. Fishlegs yelled in terror and ran away as fast as his legs could carry him, narrowly dodging a fireball. Surprised by the fact that he had actually avoided an attack, he stopped, allowing another shot to take him out of the exercise. He joined the other 'out' teens by the door, watching Tuffnut and Helen. The Gronkle charged towards Helen, growling in confusion once it caught her scent.

**_*You smell like a Night Fury*_** It rumbled, narrowing its eyes as it attempted to understand. The dragon's contemplation was put on hold momentarily when it heard the sound of rapidly approaching feet. Turning and firing a single shot, Tuffnut was sent flying back into the wall of teens that had gathered by the entrance to the ring. Helen used the dragon's distraction to her benefit and dove under it, kicking up at its neck. She didn't kick hard enough to hurt the dragon, just hard enough to hit the pressure point and render the dragon unconscious. The dragon, no longer able to hold itself in the air, became dead weight that quickly fell victim to the powers of gravity. The heavy weight of the Gronkle was pressed against the soles of Helen's boots, as the strength of her legs was the only thing currently holding the dragon in and upright position. Pushing harder with one leg than the other, the girl pushed the dragon over to the side so that it didn't crush her. She then got to her feet and dusted herself off, trying to ignore the stares that she was getting as she walked out of the arena. She almost made it, too, but the small girl was cut off by the massive form of her mentor.

**"Helen. I'd like a word with you."** Gobber said, his voice emotionless, much like his expression as he ushered Helen alongside him and they began their walk. **"I visited Gothi. You've been acting strange and… well I wanted to know what was up."** He contemplated telling his apprentice exactly what Gothi had told him, about how she had drawn images of Helen's mother in the dirt, images of her drinking something, a lot of something; how the runes had been written in the moist ground that told him of the girl's birth. He thought about telling Helen what Gothi didn't know, about how Stoic had been told by the gods that his daughter was worth keeping alive, about what happened AFTER the girl had been born and her mother had passed. But he decided not to. If she didn't know, then he didn't want to be the one to tell her, Stoic was probably waiting for the right time when he had deemed the girl ready to learn the truth.

**"Gothi told me that… well you're at the age that… well some CHANGES might be happening."** Helen's face flushed bright red, and Gobber became flustered. That hadn't come out as he had planned.

"Uhh… Gobber? I'd kinda rather not have this conversation…"

**"I just want you to know that if you need someone to talk to, about anything, be it… changes… or simple life troubles, I'm here for you and I'll answer any questions that you have as best as I can."** That hadn't turned out the way that he had planned, but he decided that the basic point had been understood. He smiled in what he hoped was a reassuring look and patted his goddaughter on the back gently.

"Uhh… thank you… Gobber… But I know that I can talk to you about anything; you're one of my best friends!" Helen smiled up at the man and noticed that the sky behind him was turning a darker shade of gray. "If you don't mind though…"

**"Go ahead, have fun tinkering in the forges."** Gobber turned and walked away, limping slightly due to his peg leg. The mud that covered the ground was beginning to have small tendrils of white through the murky brown.  
Helen ran to the docs and grabbed a large barrel of fish, checking it quickly for eel before latching the lid once more and running off into the woods. Gobber watched as the closest thing that he had to a daughter of his own ran off into the shadowy woods and disappeared behind the thick mass of trees. He shook his head and looked up at the sound of thunder. The sky was darkening quickly, and now more dragons were circling overhead. The storm clouds above cracked open with a mighty boom and hail pounded at the frozen ground, pelting the faces and armor of the Vikings of Berk and making small dents in the thick wooden frames of the houses. There was a deafening screech and the raid began, the smaller dragons swooped in and snatched up stray sheep while the bigger ones distracted the Vikings by setting things on fire and wreaking havoc and destruction all over the village. The warriors slipped over the icy ground, scrambling for a foothold. The unevenness that was intended to help only worsened the situation, as the small twigs and mounds of icy mud that stuck up tripped the Vikings and the larger mounts only provided a slope to slip on.

Helen scrambled through the woods, slipping down the icy slopes and scrambling up the large hills. She could hear the dragons flying through the air above the forest, but knew that she wouldn't be much help in a raid. Sure, she was fine with one dragon at a time, but when several were coming at her all at once, she would surely panic and only make things worse for the Vikings. The girl ducked under the shield and slid down the small hill of sand, the coarse bits of rock, having allowed the water to seep further down, was not frozen into a sheet of ice like the mud was. Helen stumbled quickly across the sand to the cave in hopes of getting out of the harsh weather. Toothless was in the cave and seemed to have started a large campfire to keep the both of them warm. His ears twitched and he looked up at his soaking wet rider, tilting his head at her curiously.

**_*There's a raid tonight, isn't there?*_**

"Yeah. Sorry, bud, I'm just not experienced with the foot pedal enough to help you join this time. Next time though, I'll help you fly around so that you can at least see what's going on. I just don't want to risk you getting shot at or even hit and have me be unable to get you out of there fast enough." Helen patted the dragon's nose apologetically before unlatching the barrel of fish and tipping it over. "I brought you food?" She offered hopefully. The dragon chuckled lightly.

**_*It's fine, Helen. I wouldn't want you getting hurt either, I understand that it's a bit early for you to be participating in raids. Thank you for the fish though, but I must insist that you eat one yourself.*_** he nudged a medium-sized fish towards his rider with his nose, which she smiled thankfully and took, holding it over the fire to cook it for a while.

"Thank you." Toothless muttered something that could have been _you're welcome_, but was muffled due to the fact that he was munching happily on the fish that Helen had provided for him. The girl ate quickly, realizing just how hungry she had been due to not eating in almost three days; she pulled her sketchbook out of her satchel and began to doodle absentmindedly. Her thoughts turned to Gobber. She wondered where he was and if he was okay, or if a dragon had managed to catch him off-guard. She wondered if he was holding up the Forges alright without her and if he had the fires hot enough. But most of all, she wondered how much Gothi knew, and how much she had told Gobber.  
Toothless nudged Helen's shoulder lightly, snapping her train of thought and jolting her into awareness.

**_*Who's that?*_** The dragon asked, motioning towards the open sketchbook. His rider looked down and realized that she had been drawing a profile of Gobber.

"It's Gobber. My godfather." She told her dragon, smiling up at him.

**_*What's a godfather?*_**

"It's a person that becomes your father if your real one dies."

**_*What's a father?*_** Helen stared at the dragon in shock for a while.

"W-well it's the man that h-helped your mother make you."

**_*What's a mother?*_** Toothless tilted his head to the side, genuinely curious about these new words.

"The woman that gave birth to you. Don't dragons stay with their parents too?"

**_*Oh. No, dragons stay with their 'mothers', as you put it, for three days at most; only long enough for our wings to become strong enough to fly and hunt on our own. Then we leave.*_**

"You mean you don't remember your parents?" The dragon chuckled lightly.

**_*_****_I_****_ remember MINE but only because I am the only offspring of Lightning and Death. Dragons don't have the same relations as Vikings.*_** Helen processed this new information. **_*What does your mother look like?*_** The dragon asked, nudging the sketchbook lightly.

"My mother died while giving birth to me, so I don't know what she looked like. Only what my father and other Vikings have told me. Do dragons have friends?"

**_*Occasionally we will make 'friends', but we will not continue to be friends for as long as Vikings tend to be. Being a dragon means lots of flying, hunting, and moving around. It makes it very difficult to stay friends for very long. I've noticed that certain Vikings tend to stay close though, do you have any friends?*_**

"Actually, no." Helen shrugged, smirking lightly. "I have… comrades, I suppose… Vikings that are part of my age group that I train with, but none of them are really my friends."

**_*What do THEY look like?*_** Once more, he nudged the sketchbook. Helen laughed and shook her head, amused, before picking up her charcoal pencil and beginning to draw Fishlegs. Once the drawing was complete, she turned the book towards Toothless.

"This is Fishlegs. He's almost as useless as I am when it comes to fighting dragons, but he's getting better, and bigger, so he's bound to be a good Viking in the future." She turned to the next page and drew Rosemary. "This is Rosemary. She dropped out of training. Too much dirt involved. But she's very good with a bow and arrow, and she'd be even better if she aimed first." The next page was soon stained with the black of the charcoal as Helen drew the twins together.

"Ruffnut and Tuffnut. The twins. They argue a lot, but they do care about each other, and would be willing to kill for each other. " On the next page, Helen drew Snotlout before continuing, "This is Snotlout. He's my cousin. I think. It's scary to think that I could be related to him. I think that he and Astrid have a thing going on."

**_*Astrid?_** Toothless tilted his head in curiosity, and Helen quickly drew Astrid.

"Astrid. She's the 'leader' of the group. All the guys follow her around in a love struck daze. But she belongs to Snotlout. I've seen the looks that they give each other, even if the others can't."

**_*Interesting… What about your father? What does he look like?*_** Helen turned to the next page and began drawing the chief of the Hairy Hooligans. She tried to make him look somewhat happy, but realized that she had never seen him smile before, and when she imagined him smiling it didn't look natural. So she drew him the only way she had ever seen him: angry.

"My father. Stoic the Vast, chief of the tribe."

**_*THAT'S your father?*_** Toothless hissed at the picture.

"Unfortunately." Helen mumbled, subconsciously rubbing her arm.

**_*He's killed at least a hundred dragons on his own!*_** The dragons screeched, looking at Helen, the picture, and back to Helen.

"I don't like it either, but it's just how things work right now." There was a loud explosion outside that startled the two beings, causing them to look up to the entrance of the cave. "Watchtower." The girl muttered, the Night Fury beside her nodding in agreement.

**_*What else have you drawn?*_** The dragon asked, trying to turn the subject off of his rider's father. The girl smiled and turned to the front of the book. There were several designs for weapon crammed onto a few pages, and a scribbled-out aerial view of Berk, but then the drawings turned to Toothless. The first one was of him looking up in fear, the next of him looking down in anger.

"Our first meeting." Helen smiled, petting the dragon's nose lovingly. She remembered the third picture that she had drawn of Toothless, and tried to skip over the page.

**_*You missed a page.*_** He told her, looking over to the girl expectantly. She sighed and flipped back, revealing the gruesome picture that portrayed the Night Fury standing over her own dead body before turning to the next page. The next picture was of Toothless' full body, the left tailfin smudged out and re-drawn. There was another page full of notes about measurements and weights and whatnot for the prosthetic fin, followed by a picture of Toothless climbing down a rock ledge, and another of him sleeping. The next picture in the sketchbook was her father, glaring in what seemed to be pure hatred. The next drawing was of Gobber, followed by the rest of the drawings that Helen had just drawn. She closed the book and they sat in silence while the sounds of the raids died off and the suns began to come up.

"I should probably go. They're going to need me to help repair the village." Helen said quietly, her strained voice shattering the silence like ice dropped from a rooftop onto the hard, unforgiving ground. The girl stood, putting her sketchbook into her satchel and turning to leave. "I'll be back later with fish."

**_*Helen!*_** Toothless called out, standing to go to her side. **_*You… You know that I… I wouldn't ever hurt you… right?*_** He asked, worry lacing his voice as he looked into Helen's bright green eyes. The girl placed a hand gently on the side of his face, smiling at him in reassurance.

"Yes. I trust you, Toothless, and I know that you'd never hurt me." She leaned forward slightly, as if to press her face against his, but hesitated and moved away, her hand falling away as she walked out of the cave. The dragon moved forward slightly, trying to keep his rider's hand in place for a few moments longer, but her warm touch left his scales far too quickly.

"I'll be back later. With fish!" She called back as she exited the cove, disappearing into the forest where she would run back to her village to help rebuild the very walls that had trapped her and kept her from knowing of her past. Toothless however, simply watched her disappear behind the rock and silently wished that she would stay with him in the cove and forget about the village and the Vikings that so obviously pained her to return to.


End file.
